Marjorie Valentine

Marjorie P. Valentine, Ph.D., passed away Monday, March 14, 2011.Chicago was the last place in the world Marjorie expected to land. Born on April 20, 1928 in Chattanooga, she arrived in Chicago from Washington D.C. in the fury of a February snowstorm. The Northern Trust Co. had invited her to visit the city since her husband was to be the Bank's new Assistant General Counsel. But having lived with him in Pensacola, San Francisco, Virginia, France, New Haven and Rhode Island she became immediately in love with Chicago and the MidWest. Then, in her quite way, she continued her self-commitment to serving the needy and the community. Dr. Valentine was the granddaughter of John Light Atlee and Margaret Patton Atlee the only daughter of George Washington Patton who came to Chattanooga in 1893 with his brothers to help operate the Chattanooga Medicine Co. She spent part of her childhood in Chattanooga and part in Pensacola where her father was president of the Gulf Power Co. She graduated from University of Chattanooga, in 1949 having been president of the Pan-Hallenic Counsel, president of Pi Beta Phi, and a member of Quadrangle. She majored in psychology and later received her Ph.D. in that field from the American University in Washington, D.C.By a decade after her graduation from the University of Chattanooga, Dr. Valentine had obtained a vast experience in helping others. In the 1960s she established one of the first Headstart programs in the South and was the Director of that program in Pensacola for the entire Escambia County, helping to integrate its Black community into the County schools despite some local hostility and opposition. Then, moving to Washington D.C. again, she joined the Arlington, Va., Public School System as its school psychologist helping its teachers and parents deal with special education requirements, placements, interventions and teacher training. While at the American University as a Doctoral Candidate, she studied group dynamics under Margaret J. Rioch and worked under Murray Bowen with his Family Systems Theory and Therapy to help dysfunctional and emotional families. Later, she used this training to support the mission of the Chicago Center for the Study of Groups and Organizations, and in October 2010 she received its Distinguished Service Award for her unique national contributions to this field of study. Shortly after moving with her husband to Winnetka, Ill., in 1979, Dr. Valentine became a Research Affiliate and Guest Lecturer at Northwestern University until 1992. She was a champion for the education of women and women in the Military. In 1981 she also joined the Board of Chicago Commons, a longstanding neighborhood service organization and served as its President from 1986 to 1989. During her time as President she oversaw that organizations dynamic expansion in industrial job training for the underprivileged and its early innovation of long-term care services for senior citizens. These services have since served as a model for this major industry sector today.In 1984 Dr. Valentine was asked to also teach theories in group process at the Seabury-Westem Episcopal Seminary as an Adjunct Professor. She taught there until she left to join Professors Cassell, Rath and Stoyanoff, Ltd. to help banks and business organizations in South Chicago with their human resource problems. She became President of that organization in 1988. Dr. Valentine was elected Warden of Christ Church, Winnetka in 1988 and led the congregation in making major modifications to the Church's property to give the Willow Wood PreSchool a place to continue serving the parents of their preschool children with a safe and wholesome preschool setting. Then she led the Church Congregation's two-year efforts in 2000 to make award-winning major renovations and expansions of the Church, its Parish House and Sunday School facility. Following her term on the Vestry, Dr. Valentine served as a member of the Commission on Ordained Ministry of The Episcopal Diocese of Chicago until 2007. In 1992, she became a member of the Family Institute Board of Directors. The Family Institute at Northwestern University is the Midwest's largest center for marital and family therapy, education, research and community outreach. It provides counseling and psychotherapy throughout the Chicago metropolitan area for low income and at risk families As a Director she helped in that Institute's mission and established the Dr. John Morgan Post Doctoral Clinical Research Fellowship for the Institute. She continued serving on the Board until her death on March 14, 2011.Dr. Valentine is survived by her husband, Captain Andrew J. Valentine, USN (Ret.) and by three children and four grandchildren. Her son is R. James Valentine, M.D., a vascular surgeon and distinguished professor at Southwest Medical School, University of Texas in Dallas. Her daughters are Atlee Valentine Pope, president of Blue Canyon Partners Inc., in Evanston, Ill, and Sarah Prevost Valentine, a principal software engineer in Boston, Mass.