Marguerite Amelia Verharst, age 97, passed away on March 11, 2014. She was born in Detroit, Michigan in a house on March 4, 1917. Marguerite went to School up to the eighth grade. Marguerite had a job at Ford Motor Corp.in Detroit and this is where she meets Kenneth Verharst and within a few months they got married in September 12, 1942 in Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan. It was a great time for the two of them till December 7, 1942 when Pearl Harbor was bombed and this changed the world (WWII). Kenneth went down to enlist into the Navy stationed on a PT Boat as a motor machines second class in the South Pacific, where he stay in for two years till he got discharge do to getting malaria. This is about the time the war ended in 1945. At this time Kenneth and Marguerite pick up their stakes and moved to Glendale, California. This is where Kenneth tried and got into some modeling and acting in Hollywood. There are a few Names that come to mine Wallace Berry, then over this time Marguerite got pregnant with their first child Penelope in May, 1947. This is when they moved to Sierra Madre into a Canyon. The acting wasn't paying the bills so Kenneth had to look for something that would put food on the table. So we went to work job to job till he found Areojet General (the new frontier in space). Then they had another child Yvonne in March 1949, this is when they new the house was too small. So they saved enough money to buy a three bedroom home in Azusa. Not knowing they were to have two more kids Raymond in February 1954 and Phillip in July 1955. This meet they would have to move again or add on to their home, so they added on and this is where they stayed. She is survived by her four children, Surviving children are daughter Penelope Elena Southern age 66, Yvonne Theresa Roberts age 64, Son Raymond Kenneth Verharst age 60, Phillip Gordon Verharst age 58, Nine grandsons Eric Gordon Verharst age 15, Andrew Young Verharst age 16, Adam Nickolas Verharst age 23, Alexander Raymond Verharst age 26, Ryan Sean Verharst age 30, Kristopher Andrew Roberts age 34, Shawn Kenneth Southern age 31, Jeremiah Lorin Southern age 34, Anthony Harold Pritchett age 46, Four Granddaughters Melissa Marie McKinney age 36, Jennifer Christine Burgan age 39, Christina Elena Ewoldt age 33, Michelle Yvonne Herdon age 44, Daughter In-law Benilda Verharst, Daughter In-law Mi Young. Five Great grandsons & Three Great Granddaughters, Marguerite was a great Mother, Grandmother, Aunt and Friend and was loved dearly by all of her family and friends. We will all miss her dearly.
Memorial Service at St. Frances of Rome Catholic Church Saturday morning March 29, 2014 from 11-12 A.M. at 501 E. Foothill in Azusa. Please No Flowers ( in lieu of flowers Kenneth would like you to donate to St. Frances of Rome Catholic Church )
