In Memory
Margaret-Rose Marek
As President, I have the sad task of announcing the death of Margaret-Rose Marek, a founding board member, former president, and archivist for the North Texas Writing Centers Association. Margaret-Rose died March 21, 2005 after a courageous fight with cancer.
Margaret-Rose began working as an adjunct faculty member at
Texas
Christian University in 1981, and she became a full-time instructional
staff
member of TCU’s William L. Adams Center for Writing in 1988. A
popular
tutor and writing teacher, she served as the center's technical
coordinator,
helping to build and maintain the center's computer lab. She not
only
designed TCU’s first online writing lab, but she was also instrumental
in
working toward computerized classrooms on the TCU campus. In
fact, she
began teaching composition in computer clusters in the early
1990s. Among her other accomplishments were publications of
articles in Writing
Lab Newsletter, Teaching in the Two-Year College, English
in
Texas, and other journals.
Margaret-Rose leaves a
legacy of service—to students, many of whom
insisted on working with her; to friends and colleagues, whom she often
went
out of her way to help; to her church, where she taught Sunday school
and sang
in the choir; to TCU, to which she devoted so many years as a writing
teacher
and tutor; and to our association. She
is survived by her husband Jerry Dutsch, her brother Mark Marek and his
wife
Wendy, and a host of devoted friends.
Many of us will remember Margaret-Rose for the strength of her opinions
and her character—and for her sense of humor.
Others will remember the times when she revealed a tender side.
Among her many passions were a love of
animals and of her ranch in Oklahoma, where she and Jerry planned to
retire. We will miss her very
much.