Margaret Rose Coles Bol, known as Markee, passed away peacefully, at her residence in Montgomery Township, NJ, on Monday, May 6, 2013, with her family by her side. She was born in Mansfield, Pennsylvania on January 24, 1920, the daughter of Edwin and Emmavieve Coles.

She is survived by her husband of 65 years, Kees Bol, her four children, Peter (Satomi) Bol, Stacy (John) Stahl, Christina Bol, and Faith (Harlan) Fish, and her four grandchildren, Christopher Bol, Rebecca Stahl, Alison Stahl, and Daniel Fish.

Markee and her brother James Stacy Coles, seven years her senior, grew up in Mansfield, Pennsylvania. Her father, Edwin, published a weekly paper and ran a printing business - not a highly profitable activity during the Depression. Bills outstanding were more likely to be paid with a basket of potatoes than hard cash. But Markee's mother, known as Viva, was very resourceful, and Markee never felt deprived and she grew up to be just as resourceful.

Thanks to the financial support of her aunt, Anna Rose Hawkes, Markee was able to attend college and graduated in 1941 from Hood College in Frederick, Maryland, with a BA in French. During the summers she taught canoeing at a French-speaking camp on Lake Champlain. Upon graduation Markee went on to work as a camp director for the Girl Scouts of the USA until 1946, when her aunt became Dean of Students at Mills College in Oakland, California. Markee received her MA in Counseling and Guidance from Mills College in 1948, thanks to her Aunt's generous offer of free room and board.

In 1947 Markee directed an inter-racial summer camp operated by an activist Quaker, Josephine Duveneck, on the Duveneck's Hidden Villa Ranch in Los Altos, California. There she met her future husband, Kees Bol, who had been the riding instructor the previous summer. They were married December 27, 1947. As her children neared high school age, and college tuition was just around the corner, Markee went to work as a guidance counselor at Montgomery High School, where she worked for many years. During that time she also chaired a committee of the College Entrance Examination Board. Markee retired in 1981, and became an excellent weaver, an activity she kept up for the next 25 years.

Markee will long be remembered by her family and friends for her quick wit, her passion for justice, her endless enthusiasm for life, her generous spirit and her true and loving heart.

A memorial service is planned for this summer at her beloved Lake Willoughby in Vermont.

Contributions can be sent in her name to the Mary Jacobs Memorial Library Foundation, 64 Washington Street, Rocky Hill, NJ 08553.