Marion Claire Rogers Orton was a civic and political leader in Fayetteville, Arkansas. She served as mayor from 1975-1976, and was the first manager of the city’s recycling center, which she helped to establish in 1971, and which is now named in her honor. She also helped to found Fayetteville Public Access Television.

Orton was born June 22, 1928, in Rochester, Minnesota. She received a bachelor of arts in Philosophy from the University of Illinois in 1950, and also studied at Carlton College, the University of Washington, and the University of Arkansas. Along with her husband, Dr. William Roten Orton, she traveled widely, including time abroad with the Fulbright program in Paris, France (in 1951) and Tehran, Iran (in 1977). The Ortons moved to Fayetteville, Arkansas, in the 1960s, and Marion Orton became very active in civic and volunteer organizations, including the Ozark Society, the Ozark Guidance Center, Habitat for Humanity, and the OMNI Center for Peace, Justice, and Ecology. In addition to her service as mayor, Orton spent 12 years on the City of Fayetteville Board of Directors, and she worked with the League of Women Voters of Washington County on a number of initiatives on topics such as voting rights, city beautification, recycling, and public parks. For her contributions, she was honored during Fayetteville’s Women’s History Month in 2001, and was named to the League of Women Voters of Arkansas Hall of Fame in 2005. She passed away September 12, 2011, in Fayetteville, Arkansas.