Ruth Jeanette Henderson was from Coggon, Iowa. She finished a two-year course at the Iowa State Teachers College and graduated with the Junior Class in June 1914. Ruth was a member of the Cliosophic Literary Society. Her Chief Fault listed was "making noise in Society" for which the Remedy was "Get the Wright assistance". Ruth married Lacy D. Hill on June 15, 1920. Marian Henderson was one of her bridesmaids.

Marian Elizabeth Henderson was born into a large family on August 9, 1899, in Jackson Township, Linn County, Iowa.  Her parents were Thomas and Minnie Willis Henderson. Marian was the tenth and next to the last child born to them. The oldest child was Frank Vernon. The second child and first sister was Leila Rose, who had attended the Iowa State Normal School at Cedar Falls, and was ready for her second year of teaching in a rural school. The rest of the offspring were Mark Leo, Arthur Willis, Leslie John, and Ruth Jeanette.  The eighth and ninth children were twin brothers who died at birth.  The eleventh and last member of the family was born on October 1, 1906, and named Esther. Marian was born to older parents; Thomas was 47 and Minnie was 43 when Marian was born.

In the spring of 1911, Marian took the eighth grade exams and passed. She was encouraged by her teacher, Irving Moles, to enter high school, even though she was younger than most students.  Marian attended Coggon High School, where future I.S.T.C. president O.R. Latham was superintendent during the year when Marian was a freshman. Marian attended high school for four years, and graduated in the spring of 1915 when she was fifteen years old.  

After graduation she decided to receive further training at the Iowa State Teachers College.  Ruth had finished the two year course, graduating in November 1914. Marian entered ISTC in the fall of 1915, and continued for a year and a half until spring 1917. She decided not to return to Cedar Falls, but instead took a teaching position in a Benton County rural school in the fall of 1917. Marion was ready to go back to college for the winter quarter of 1917-18.  She continued until she graduated with a second-grade teaching certificate in June 1918.

Marian Henderson accepted a teaching position at Prescott, Adams County, in southwest Iowa. A teaching position nearer eastern Iowa enticed Marian for the 1919-20 school year. Shellsburg, in Benton County, hired her to teach mathematics and Latin. The practice of teaching in Prescott and Shellsburg improved Marian's self-confidence and funds. It developed her resolve to acquire a first-grade certificate. In the summer of 1920, she returned to Cedar Falls to add credits. While at home she was a bridesmaid for her sister Ruth, who married Lacy D. Hill, June 15, 1920. Marian attended ISTC from the summer of 1920 through the fall, winter and spring terms of the regular year. In the summer session of 1921, she completed the requirements were for her B. A. degree and First Grade teaching certificate. Ruth brought their parents to the exercises. Marian Henderson signed a contract for the 1921-22 school year to teach at Mapleton, Monona County, south of Sioux City Iowa.   

On August 12, 1922, Marian resigned from Mapleton and married Andrew Weston Savage on August 27, 1922, at the Lone Pine Inn in Cedar Rapids. Marian Henderson Savage died on June 8, 1999 at the age of 99.