MARILYN MacGREGOR, ASH, BSI
Remembering Elizabeth Baskerville
by Elaine Coppola
Sadly, Marilyn MacGregor, ASH (Elizabeth Baskerville), BSI (V.V. 341), passed away on September 16, 2020 at the age of 94.
Marilyn was a very special lady with unbridled enthusiasm and joy for life and its adventures. Born Marilyn Russell in Portland, Oregon, she graduated from Oregon State in 1949 and married Neil MacGregor, a liaison for the U.S. Forest Service to the National Park Service. They built a house in the Berkeley Hills and Marilyn began a noteworthy career at UC Berkeley that included being an administrative officer of the Sociology Department and a consultant to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, developing and teaching a course on “Leadership and Women”. After moving full time to staff development, Marilyn received a promotional transfer to UC Davis where she taught courses to faculty and staff on topics including leadership and management skills, time management, effective communication, and group dynamics.
Always an ardent reader, Marilyn was especially interested in the Sherlock Holmes stories and the writings of P.G. Wodehouse and was an active member of many related societies. Notably, she was a long-time member and Bodymaster Black Jack McGinty of The Scowrers and Molly Maguires of San Francisco and, in 1993, a co-founder (along with Jon Lellenberg and Susan Jewell) of the Clients of Adrian Mulliner, a scion society of the Baker Street Irregulars and a chapter of The Wodehouse Society.
Though petite in size, Marilyn made a big impression. My first encounter with her was in the lobby of the Algonquin one cold January day during the BSI weekend. She greeted this newbie with an enormous smile and a truly friendly welcome. During some genial getting to know each other chat, she asked “Do you read P. G. Wodehouse?” At the time, all I knew was Jeeves and Wooster but I was intrigued to hear of the Clients of Adrian Mulliner with its Junior Bloodstain (the Clients gathering at the BSI weekend). The program was a reading of Marilyn and Anne Cotton’s humorous playlet combining the Wodehousian and Sherlockian worlds. Marilyn was Sherlock, Anne was Watson, and other attendees took the remaining parts. It was great fun and I was hooked! I credit Marilyn with my expanded reading of Wodehouse including the Lord Emsworth and the Mulliner stories, as well as my membership in The Wodehouse Society and current involvement with the Clients.
Another of Marilyn’s significant contributions to this merged world was “Plum’s Sherlock: Doyle’s Influence on Pelham Grenville Wodehouse” (originally a presentation to the Wodehouse Society Conference in Chicago in 1997; published in Plum Lines, 1998, v.18, no.4; reprinted in Violets & Vitriol, 2004).
Since Marilyn’s gift for friendship and her enjoyment of travel took her far and wide, many Sherlockians and Wodehousians will have their own special recollections of her activities including journeys to England and other European countries and to Japan. As for me, I will always treasure fond memories of Clients’ playlets and the fascinating stories of this remarkable Sherlockian and Wodehousian lady.
