Marcia was the oldest of four children.  She and her brother Robert (known as Timmy within the family), and sisters Jean and Diana grew up in Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts.  Despite the fact that the Depression hit just six years after her birth, she always said that she didn't even know the Depression was taking place because it was during that exact time that her father, an attorney for Palmer & Dodge in Boston, built their big brick home in Wellesley Hills where she lived until she left for Smith College.  Attending Smith, and receiving a Master's in Social Work from their School of Social Work, was one of the things in her life of which she was most proud.  

While at Smith, Marcia met Clifton W. Emery, Jr.  They were married soon after her graduation and moved to New York City.  While Cliff attended Columbia University for graduate school, Marcia worked as a social worker for the city.  They subsequently moved back to Massachusetts and lived in Arlington and then Medford where he was Dean of Men for Tufts College.  Marcia and Cliff had three children, Nancy, Chip and Peter, and were divorced in 1960.  

Marcia later married Theodore Wood, Jr. and moved to Winchester where she lived the remainder of her life.  Marcia and Ted had one daughter, Laurie.  Despite the fact that she was never a "career woman" in today's sense of the word, she was also never idle.  Throughout her life, she was an active member and leader in a wide variety of clubs and organizations.  She was a member of the League of Women Voters, the Winchester Historical Society, the Smith Club, the Winchester Seniors Association and the Council on Aging, among others.  She was also an avid antique lace and clothing collector and had a small antique shop callled The Mulberry Bush in Needham for a period of time.

Ted was a Professor of Humanities at M.I.T. which gave them the opportunity to spend summers on Chebeague Island, Maine.  "The point", as it is known in the family, became the focal point of family life every year.  There they went boating and sailing, hosted family dinners and enjoyed the long summer evenings on the big front porch overlooking the water.  To this day, Chebeague has a very special place in the family fabric.

Several years after Ted's death in 1993, Marcia reconnected with an old flame from her teenage years, Arthur C. Burleigh.  Marcia and Arthur traveled extensively and enjoyed getting together with family and friends. He was a great comfort to Marcia when her daughter Nancy died in 2007.  Arthur moved to Woburn in 2009, after which they were rarely apart.  Arthur passed away in 2012.  

Marcia has always had close friends who have meant the world to her.  Susan Keats, Nancy Dahm, Cecily Parkhurst, Jo Morgan, Pat Wells, and many, many others have given her the friendship and intellectual stimulation that has kept her active and engaged right up to her death at the age of 91.  These people gave her strength when life was challenging and made her laugh when life was good.  She was a woman who drew on her relationships with others for energy and inspiration and her family is so grateful for all they have done in good times and bad.

Anyone who knew Marcia knew that it was her role as mother, grandmother and, most recently, great-grandmother that truly defined her life.  At her 80th birthday party, she introduced all her assembled family to the guests as her "life's work."  She often said how lucky she was because all her children lived relatively close by.  Family gatherings, such as the annual Music Weekend on Chebeague Island, were the highlight of her schedule.  Her children and her grandchildren, Jaedra, Katie, John, Jocelyn, Ben, Matthew, Brian and Shoshanna, loved her dearly and looked to her for support and advice.  

At this difficult time of loss, the family that Marcia built and nurtured has come together to ease our sorrow and create even more family memories.  We appreciate all the love and support we have received from our friends and we ask that you keep the memory of Marcia and her life's accomplishments close to your heart.