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Marjorie Cochran Patton Kaub played the organ at Foothills Congregational Church for 20 years.

Sunnyvale musician, garden lover, dies

By Justin Berton

Marjorie Cochran Patton Kaub, a 40-year resident of Sunnyvale known for her passion of music, her love for gardening, and her gift for entertaining, died of heart failure Sept. 14.

She was 69.

Marjorie was an accomplished musician, graduating from the prestigious Indiana University with a masters degree in music in 1951.

"Anybody who knows music, will know what that means to have studied there," Marjorie's son, Scott Patton said.

She studied on the piano Scott said, but she taught herself to play the organ--where she enjoyed performing at Foothills Congregational Church for 20 years, then at the First Congressional Church in San Jose for five years.

Marjorie also played in several musical groups throughout the Bay Area, and also filled in as a substitute music teacher.

Marjorie was involved in several organizations including, the West Bay Opera Guild, the Phi Mu Fraternity, and the Vocal Impact Choral Group and Presbyterian Church of Sunnyvale Bell Choir.

In 1957, Marjorie and her husband, Mark, who passed away in 1988, purchased their first Sunnyvale home on Mary Avenue just down the street from Homestead High School.

Following Mark's death in 1988, she married Karl F. Kaub in 1990.

Her passions included entertaining and gardening, he said.

"She was always ready to throw large dinner parties," Scott recalled. "She hosted three or four wedding receptions and was very skilled at it."

Her final years were among her most active. "In her last 10 years of life, she just took off," Scott said. "She lived a lifetime in those years."

Her lasting legacy, her flowing garden, is quite a site to behold, Scott said. "It's fantastic. There must be at least 80 to 100 rose bushes," he added.

Marjorie is survived by her mother, Margaret Alcorn Cochran of Dunedin, FL.; her husband, Karl F. Kaub; her children, Sara Patton of Maui, HI: Tom Patton of Carson City, NV; Scott Patton of San Francisco; and Nancy Patton of Sunnyvale; and her stepchildren, Lisa Hernacki of Santa Clarita, and Kurt Kaub of Sunnyvale.

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This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, October 7, 1998.
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