Obituary of Marion Brown Vinyard

FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP Marion Joy Vinyard, 87, passed away Wednesday January 5, 2022. She was a lifelong resident of Freehold. Prior to her retirement, Marion was a 50-year employee of the Monmouth County Board of Elections, 39 of those years she worked in the office of the Superintendent of Elections/Commissioner of Registrations. Marion was a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Freehold, where she dedicated herself to working the Sunday School program and serving as a deacon. Ms. Vinyard loved children and she belonged to the Children’s International Organization and sponsored several children in Guatemala. Marion is the widow of Gordon “Tex” Vinyard. In 1965 he was the manager of the Castiles band and The Legends, both from Freehold. This group of young boys gathered at their Center Street duplex, wrote songs, and practiced daily. This was the beginning hometown roots of Freehold’s Bruce Springsteen. Marion and Tex had no children and Marion looked over, guided, and cared for these young people thinking of them as her own boys. Marion’s husband Tex died in 1989, yet the friendships continued. In 2002, the Borough of Freehold dedicated the property at the corner of Center Street and Jackson Street as “Vinyard Park”-a memorial for the contributions, and dedication of Tex and Marion Vinyard. Marion is pre-deceased by her parents, Elwood and Dorothea Brown of Freehold, also all her brothers and sisters, Donald Brown, Woodrow Brown, Margaret Hurley Wright, Dorothy Burdge, Phyllis Smith, and Carolyn Schue. Marion is survived by 17 nieces and nephews and numerous great nieces and nephews. Private services were held at the Higgins Memorial Home, Freehold and internment was at the Brown family plot in Maplewood Cemetery, Freehold Township.