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Marion Matheson Johnson (“Johnny”) DuBosque, 97, died peacefully at home in Essex on Jan. 7. Born in New York City on Nov. 7, 1921, Marion grew up in Garden City, Huntington Bay, and Laurel Hollow, New York.

A graduate of the Cathedral School of Saint Mary in Garden City, Long Island, New York, Marion attended Bennington College in Bennington, Vermont. She was married to Hutchinson DuBosque, Sr., for 66 years until his death in 2008. Hutch and Marion lived in Laurel Hollow, New York, for many years, where they were members of the Cold Spring Harbor Beach Club and the Winter Club in Huntington, prior to moving to Connecticut, where they lived in Fenwick and in Essex.

While Hutch was stationed in Naval Training school in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1943, Marion worked in the Naval Torpedo Station on Goat Island, and later served as a WWII Red Cross volunteer on Long Island, New York. In 1968, she started Books for Vietnam with friends in her home basement, receiving, assembling, packaging, and sending thousands of books to servicemen in Vietnam, with the help of Army chaplains and the US Postal Service. In 1977, Marion received a certificate of medical assisting from The Westchester School, and a diploma from the Institute of Children’s Literature in 1993, having completed the courses on writing for children and teenagers.

Marion is survived by four children, Tina Matheson DuBosque and son-in-law Joel I. Ackerman, of Quaker Hill; Hutchinson DuBosque and daughter-in-law Carol DuBosque of Huntington, New York; Anne Matheson DuBosque of Warrenton, Virginia; and Nancy Phelps DuBosque of Keene, New Hampshire. She is also survived by five grandchildren, Hutch, Jamey, Christina, Allegra, and Gene, and four great-grandchildren, James, Camden, Elon, and Cairo.

A gathering of the clans to honor and celebrate Marion’s life will take place at a family graveside service in April on Long Island. Donations in loving memory may be made to Hospice, Middlesex Health, 28 Crescent St., Middletown, CT 06457, Visiting Nurses of The Lower Valley, 61 Main St., Centerbrook, CT, and Lower Valley Care Advocates, 61 Main St., Centerbrook