Marjorie Stoker (1914-1989) was born in West Bromwich, England, the eldest child of Harry and Annie Cutler. She married John Teasdale Stoker (1911-1975) in 1937 and moved with him to St. John's, Newfoundland in 1957, where he became head of the Department of Modern Languages at Memorial University. They had two children, Richard (1946-) and Sue Payne.

Stoker received a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Manchester University in 1936, a teacher's certificate from Aberdeen University in 1954, a Teachers' Parchment from the Scottish Education Department in 1956 and a Bachelor of Education degree from Memorial University in 1966. She was a classroom teacher and substitute teacher in Newfoundland for twelve years and was the oral French specialist at the school board level for several years. She worked extensively with the academic upgrading program at the Waterford Hospital on Waterford Bridge Road and volunteer taught at the Children's Home on Water Street from 1971 until shortly before her death. She participated in several committees pertaining to her professional life as a classroom teacher and French specialist and was a founding member and Secretary of the St. John's Folk Arts Council. She was active in various women's and human rights groups: Status of Women Committee, National Action Committee on the Status of Women, National Council of Women, Exon House Auxiliary, Defenders of Signal Hill Committee. During the 1960s she undertook research among the Mi'kmaq in Southern and Western Newfoundland.