Biography
Marilyn Maxine Ferguson was born in Clinton, Oklahoma, on December 13, 1943. There was no performance with her. Her parents were poor, simple, dry-land farmers. Her home did not have inside plumbing or running water. On the other hand, her growing up in that home afforded her a rich heritage. Her mother was a very godly woman who instructed her in the ways of the Lord and in the practices that would be necessary for being a wife and a mother. She learned well. She sewed all of her dresses until well after she finished college. Then she started a life-long practice of buying all of her clothing from Goodwill because she viewed all of her money as belonging to the Lord and for His work. Her great-grandfather had been a preacher and a missionary. At one point the Baptists had assigned the entire state of Oklahoma as his territory. Two of her uncles were ministers.
In 1962, while attending a small Christian college, she met her future husband, Ray Graver. Their meeting was the result of their involvement in a particular Christian service known as “Friday night missions.” They would join other students to minister to the children of migrant farm workers. It was a genuine service to the Lord. Ray and Marilyn loved these times.
During these times they did not pay much attention to each other as they were just part of a group. Then one particular Friday night her mother visited and asked, “Marilyn, what have you thought about that Ray Graver? I like him.” That triggered something in Marilyn. From then on, even with little response from him, she began a serious pursuit.
In November of 1963 they learned about tapes by someone named Witness Lee. Night after night, they walked to meetings to listen to these tapes. During those walks they began to develop a relationship, a relationship in the Lord. Strictly speaking, there was never a courtship; they just served the Lord together and joined together in a pursuit of the truths in the Word of God. Once, they had a picnic in a park together. He brought the peanut butter-banana-cheese sandwiches. As that year passed and the church life began in Plainview, Texas, they continued walking to the meetings and back.
They were married in the summer of 1964 by the justice of the peace with one other couple as witnesses. It was simple. They went to the prayer meeting that night. They were married. They were very happy.
Two weeks later, in a borrowed car, they left to go to the 1964 summer conference and training in Los Angeles. This was held at the Bonnie Brea House. There were about sixty believers living and meeting in that house. They had private quarters—a bunk bed in a closet. The time was marvelous with the release of the messages now in the book The Economy of God. This was their honeymoon.
Those early years were priceless, mutually loving the Lord and loving each other. Their life was entirely consumed with entering into a church life, joining others in the study of the Bible, and sharing what they had found with anyone who would listen. They crisscrossed the United States attending virtually every conference and training together. They would go even though their financial situation required them to have meals of potted meat or spam on crackers. This was their life, and this was their living. They were two happy peas in a pod.
In 1967 they joined the migration to Lubbock for the sake of a labor at Texas Tech. In 1969 they joined about sixty others to migrate to Houston for a strengthened testimony of the church life. There she continued to care for young believers. Over the years more than forty young believers have lived in her home. She was a mother and a pattern to them.
She shared with her husband a mutual vision and burden to serve practically in the care for the Lord's minister and the ministry. Together they participated in the building of facilities for the conferences and trainings (Acts 20:8). They established lodging places for Brother Lee (Philemon 22) and established a print shop for the publication and distribution of the ministry (1 Thes. 5:27). From 1976 onward, she happily joined and supplied her husband in more that twelve such projects. It was her joy!
During this time she was very active in children’s meeting and the service of the church. It seems that her joy was to secretly clean the toilets in the meeting halls and the saints’ homes. Throughout all these years, Marilyn always enjoyed singing, playing the piano, and giving piano lessons.
She raised three children, all of whom are, with their spouses, serving the Lord full time. She has nine wonderful grandchildren. She went to be with her Lord very peacefully surrounded by her family singing hymns to, and they believe with, her on the Lord’s Day, October 30, 2011, at the age of sixty- seven. She was a joyful pattern to those who knew her.