Marcette Danner

Marcette Kathryn Danner, 78, of Oakland, Maryland, passed away on Tuesday, October 17, 2023, at Garrett Regional Medical Center in Oakland after a brief illness.

Marcette was born on April 27, 1945, in Stoneham, Massachusetts, to the Reverend Louis F. Danner and Margaret Elvira Carlson Danner, and spent her childhood and young adulthood in a sequence of Lutheran parsonages in Everett, Massachusetts; Brattleboro, Vermont; Munising, Michigan; and Muscatine, Iowa. After graduating from Mather High School in Munising in 1963, she attended Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois, from which she received a bachelor of arts degree in 1968.

By 1969, Marcette had settled in Garrett County, Maryland, where her father had recently begun serving as pastor of the Bittinger Lutheran Parish. Garrett County was her home for the rest of her life, over the course of which she resided at various times in Bittinger, Swanton, and Oakland.

Shortly after arriving in Bittinger, Marcette embarked on a 39-year career as an art teacher in the Garrett County public school system, beginning at Southern Garrett High School from 1969 to 1975, and then at Southern Garrett Middle School, where she taught until her retirement in 2008. She also continued with graduate studies while building her teaching career, earning a master's degree in Education from the University of Maryland, College Park in 1982.

In addition to teaching art, Marcette was a gifted and artistic craftsperson in her own right, with talents ranging across scrapbooks, hand-painted and -crafted decorations, and edible sculpted fruit bowls, and highlighted by a distinctive flair for paper quilling. She lovingly applied her many abilities, year in and year out, to inspired and often elaborate gifts for her sister, her three nephews, and a growing family of grandnieces and grandnephews, as well as to works sold or donated throughout the community in and around Garrett County. Her arts and crafts skills and interests found particular local expression in her deep involvement, for many years, in the Heritage Craft Fest associated with the annual Autumn Glory Festival.

Marcette was also a talented musician, serving both as organist and vocal soloist, first at the three Bittinger Parish churches where her father served as pastor, and then for many years at St. Mark's Lutheran Church in Oakland. Her rigorously honed skills as an organist and her lofty singing voice graced countless regular church services as well as weddings and other special occasions, which she strove to make more special through her contribution. Another way in which Marcette applied her musical abilities was through her long-time membership in the Garrett Choral Society. As with her other artistic endeavors, Marcette's musical performances continued even as she faced growing health problems in her later years.

Marcette was preceded in death by her parents and by her sister, the late Louette D. Bartol of Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. She is survived by her nephews Frederick Bartol, of Sun Prairie, Wisconsin; Laurence Bartol, of Sheboygan, Wisconsin; and Stopher Bartol, of Evanston, Illinois.

C & S Fredlock Funeral Home in Oakland is assisting the family with arrangements. A memorial service for Marcette will be held at a later date. Interment of her remains will take place at Lake View Cemetery in Jamestown, New York, alongside the final resting place of her parents, at a later date to be determined.

Marcette's family and friends wish to thank the staff of Peace Healthcare at Dennett Road Manor for the care they provided her in recent years. They also wish to thank the dedicated staff at Garrett Regional Medical Center for their attentive treatment of Marcette in her final hours.

Cremation services provided by CJS CREMATION SERVICE, LLC, an affiliate of C & S Fredlock, locally owned and operated in nearby Davis, WV.