Margie Ruth Garner

Margie Ruth Railsback Garner, 81, of Amarillo, passed away Monday, April 6, 2026.

Memorial service will be at 10:30 AM, Friday, April 17, 2026, at Polk Street Methodist Church, Amarillo, Texas. Private family burial will be at McLean Cemetery. Arrangements are by Boxwell Brothers Funeral Directors.

Margie Ruth was born to John Jefferson and Texola Harlan Railsback at Pampa, Texas, on October 26, 1944. She graduated from McLean High School and from West Texas State University with BBA and MBA degrees. She completed post graduate studies at Texas Tech University, University of Houston, and North Texas State University. She retired as a Professor of the Office Administration Department / Business Division at Amarillo College after 36 years. She was a member of the Texas Business Education Teachers Association, Mountain Plains Business Education Association, National Business Education Association, and Texas Community College Association. She was a member of the Order of the Eastern Star. She was a member Kingswood United Methodist Church and later Polk Street Methodist Church. She served on many committees and sang in the Sanctuary Choir at both churches. She created the Polk Street Wedding Guild and ministered to many brides and brides’ families for several decades. She was a member of the Aldersgate Sunday School Class and prepared the annual class directory.

She married Dale Lynn Garner on December 19, 1964, in Amarillo, Texas. They met when she went home with her college roommate to Turkey, TX one weekend. They met in June and married on December 19,1964 at Saint Paul Methodist Church in Amarillo. They cherished 60 years together.

Dale and Marge were blessed with two daughters, Julie and Susan. Dale and Marge were active in their children’s lives and attended every game, concert, recital, and school event. Marge enjoyed supporting her girls in their activities and served as the Tarantella and Cotillion Dance Clubs Co-Chair and the Amarillo High School Basketball Booster Club President. Dale and Marge loved high school girls’ basketball and attended Amarillo High School games from the 1980s through 2020. They also enjoyed attending the Girls UIL State Basketball Tournament in Austin and San Antonio every year and followed many Panhandle area teams.

Marge liked many things: nice people, beautiful flowers, the mountains but only for about three days and then she wanted to be able to see for miles as we only can in the Texas Panhandle, the perfection of a newborn baby, the many kindnesses people showed her when she was in a car accident in 1990, her students, her own quest for knowledge, her special friends Pris, Lois, Joyce, Jan and Lou Ann…especially her mentor, Lou Ann Wadley Weaks. Marge valued honesty, loyalty, and people who were accountable. She enjoyed books, needlepoint, music, singing, painting, and sewing. The things she loved beyond description were: God, Dale, her daughters, her grandchildren, her mother, and laughter.

Inspired by her son-in-law’s parents, John and Diane Burks, Marge enjoyed traveling all over the world with Dale during their retirement years. She loved cruises and some of her favorite trips were Alaska, the British Isles, Viking River Cruises in Germany and China, and a Baltic Cruise for their 50th Anniversary with Susan and her family.

Marge’s greatest joy in life was her grandchildren. GranMarge and GranDale loved being involved with their grandchildren and attended all their activities. They were the “adopted” grandparents of many of their grandchildren’s friends.

In addition to her parents and husband, Marge was preceded in death by her brother, George Railsback.

She is survived by her daughter, Julie Lynn Garner Marshall; daughter Susan Dale Garner Burks and husband, Brad; grandchildren Andrew Garner Marshall, Mason Lynn Marshall, Karalyn Marshall Mathis and husband, Nathan, Elizabeth Ruth Burks and fiancé, Brendan Gerard Daly, Samuel John Burks and fiancée, Emma Jane Hofmann, and Benjamin Dale Burks, and great-granddaughter, Eleanor Kate Mathis.

The family requests memorials be made to Polk Street Methodist Church, 1401 S. Polk St., Amarillo, Texas 79101.