Marjorie L. (Heise) “Marge” Dunithan, 88, of Burlington, Michigan passed away Thursday, July 16, 2026 at Insight Hospital and Medical Center Coldwater.
A funeral service celebrating the life of Marge will be held at 1:00 p.m. Tuesday, July 21, 2026 at Lighthouse Funeral & Cremation, 1276 Tate Trail, Union City, MI with Pastor Pete Payne of the Union City Assembly of God Church officiating. Interment will follow at Burlington Township Cemetery.
Visitation will take place Tuesday, July 21, 2026 from 11:00 a.m. until the time of the service at 1:00 p.m., also at Lighthouse in Union City.
Marge was born January 17, 1938 to Otis & Elsie (Clemens) Heise in Wakeshma Township, Michigan. She was the oldest of 7 children.
June 17, 1953 Marge married Ray “Stub” Dunithan in Angola, Indiana, but later divorced in 1995. He preceded her in death in 2016.
In her younger years, she was a 4-H leader for many years, teaching sewing, baking, canning, and freezing. Marge babysat almost every child in Burlington, family or not it seems! Even a few of her siblings lived with her at times. A special one forever in her life was Kelli (Heuer) Case, who sadly passed away in 2022.
A stay-at-home mom, Marge played a big part in Burlington Centennial. She made so many long stylish dresses for people. She did odd jobs such as laundry and ironing for people, printed the Burlington Bugle back in the day. She also ran the Mothers Club of Burlington and helped out at the school in Burlington whenever possible. She opened Dunithan’s Country Kitchen restaurant in Burlington in the late 1970’s, but her health made her give it up. Marge did craft shows or would go to Shipshewana with dear friend Connie Harrington (now deceased).
For many years there was the “Pedro” card club she started. To this day cards were an important part of her life. Every day was Rummy with whomever. Marge got together once a month with the ladies. She would do anything for anyone, putting them first. Sometimes her heart was just too BIG. Her all-time favorite was cooking & baking for people. She always had to feed everyone or bake it and give it away.
Marge took people in to give them a home next door, family or not. She didn’t care; she always had to be busy. Finally, in 2004 Marge retired from driving school bus for 25 years with Union City Schools.
She also loved to send greeting cards in the mail. Sometimes you might get two instead of one or none at all, whatever came to her mind. Most of all, she loved being a stay-at-home mom. Marge loved people and they loved her. Her biggest motto was “I’m not going to get old. I’m living to be 100!”
Marge is survived by her children, Dan Dunithan and Dennis “PeeWee” (Denise) Dunithan of Burlington, Penny (Ron) Reed of Constantine, Pam Dunithan of Burlington and Teresa (EJ) Marshall of Burlington; her 11 grandchildren; her 23 great-grandchildren; her 2 great-great-grandchildren; her siblings, Donna Jean Russell of Battle Creek, Leona (Howard) Brown of Kinderhook, Donald Heise of Union City, and Lary Michael Heise of Port Orange, FL; and her sister-in-law Opal Lossing of Athens.
In addition to her former husband, Ray, Marge was preceded in death by her parents; her granddaughter, HiDe Dunithan; her siblings, Larry Heise and Albert Heise; her parents-in-law, Oscar and Ida Belle Dunithan; her brothers-in-law, Jim Lossing and Mike Russell; and her sister-in-law, Wilma Heise.
Please visit www.lighthousefuneral.com to share memories, pictures and videos with the family.
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