Marie Sinclair
June 28, 1923 — January 30, 2017
Marie Baker Sinclair, 93 years young, passed away on Monday, Jan. 30 at Hospice of West Alabama in Tuscaloosa.
Marie was born on June 28, 1923 in Selma, Ala. to Walter Lorenzo Sinclair and Marie Baker Sinclair.
Always adept at crunching numbers, Marie majored in mathematics at Huntingdon College in Montgomery, Ala., from which she graduated in 1944. Her first job after graduation was as a plug-board programmer for IBM, an experience that included living in a tent city with other female employees near IBM headquarters in New York. Marie began teaching in the Selma Public Schools in the late 1940s. She served as principal of Edgewood Elementary School in Selma from 1955 to 1965. She enrolled in the doctoral program at the University of Alabama in 1965 and was awarded a Doctorate of Education in August 1967. After receiving her doctorate Marie worked for the Tuscaloosa Public Schools, at first designing reading curriculum. She retired as a deputy superintendent in 1987. Marie was an active member of Northport First United Methodist Church in Northport, Ala.
She was preceded in death by her parents and her brother, Lorenzo Vaughan Sinclair.
She is survived by her nieces Elizabeth Sinclair Slagle (Jim); Kathryn Sinclair Karash (Julius); Eleanor Bruce Sinclair; and Patricia White Sinclair; and grand-niece Rachel Marie Karash.
A memorial service for Marie will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 4 at Northport First United Methodist Church, 700 Main Ave., Northport, Ala., 35476. Interment will be in New Live Oak Cemetery in Selma at 3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 4. with Lawrence Brown-Service Funeral Home directing.
Marie will be remembered for her kindness, strong faith, patriotism, love for family and love for cocker spaniels, as well as her never-ending desire to keep learning.
Donations in memory of Marie may be made to Hospice of West Alabama, 3851 Loop Road, Tuscaloosa, Ala., 35404, or a charity of one's choice.