Marjorie "Marge" Singer

Marjorie Teller Singer, a loving and beloved matriarch, a longtime Tulsan, and a great and gracious lover of life, came to the end of her own on Wednesday, October 24, 2012. Born Marjorie Celia Teller on December 9, 1921, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, she was the cherished only child of Rose and Hyman Teller. Her parents, immigrants from what is now Ukraine (her mother from near Kiev, her father from Odessa), met and married in New York City in the late nineteen-teens and headed west so that Hyman could attend law school at the University of Oklahoma. Subsequently, for many years the Tellers operated a retail clothing store in downtown Oklahoma City. During an adolescent sojourn in New York City, Marge graduated from Hunter College High School, then attended the University of Michigan, where she joined the Alpha Epsilon Phi sorority and in 1942 graduated with degrees in English and Spanish. That year she became reacquainted with Alex Singer, also from Oklahoma City, who was serving as an officer in the U.S. Navy. They married in San Francisco, CA, on January 30, 1943, and resided there for the remainder of World War II (though Alex was mostly at sea). In 1946, they settled in Tulsa, where Alex, a geology graduate of the University of Oklahoma, worked for a family-owned oil-and-gas and pipe-and-supply business started by his father and uncle, the beginning of a long and successful career in that industry. Also that year, the first of their five children was born. Marge is survived by her children: Sandra Anderson of Orinda, CA; George Singer of Tulsa; Mark Singer of New York, NY; Ellen Singer of Youngsville, NY; and Stephen Singer of Sebastopol, CA; as do sons-in-law David Anderson and Don Simkin; daughters- in-law Rita Singer and Michel Boynton; sister-in-law Janice Jankowsky; brotherin- law and sister-in-law Werner and Dalia Renberg; Marge’s great and loyal friend Georgia Magers; twelve grandchildren; three step-grandchildren; eight great-grandchildren, and her husband, Kenneth Renberg, who came into her life in 2002, following Alex’s death. Marge and Ken married on April 25, 2004, and spent the years that followed savoring the happy surprise of a December romance that blossomed into a loving and devoted marriage. Both were proud and involved citizens of the Tulsa Jewish community and members of B’nai Emunah Synagogue and Temple Israel. In 2010, they were honored for their philanthropy and service to the Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art, where both served on the board of directors. Especially during Marge’s child-rearing years, she was very active in the B’nai Emunah Sisterhood and in the Tulsa chapter of Hadassah, of which she was a Lifetime Member. In addition to the deep pleasure that she derived from her friendships and family, Marge felt profoundly blessed, after the death of Alex, to be able to perpetuate a tradition of generous giving to a diverse range of charities, including the Tulsa Jewish Federation, B’nai Emunah Synagogue, Tulsa Opera, Tulsa Area United Way, and the University of Oklahoma, where the Sam and Shaindel Singer and Hyman and Rose Teller Scholarship Fund was established in 2001 to provide financial aid to the children of immigrants. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that contributions be made to the Singer-Teller Scholarship Fund, c/o University of Oklahoma Development, Buchanan Hall 226, 1000 Asp Ave., Norman, OK, 73019,or to B’nai Emunah Synagogue, 1719 S. Owasso, Tulsa, OK, 74120, where a funeral service will be held at 12:30 p.m., Sunday, October 28, followed by burial at Rose Hill Cemetery. FITZGERALD IVY CHAPEL (918) 585-1151

Marjorie "Marge" Singer

December 9, 1921 - October 24, 2012