While attending Kentucky’s Berea College, Marie studied Psychology, served as Vice class president, played Varsity basketball, and sang in the school choir.
She and her daughter lived with various friends and relatives until she landed a job at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) as a membership recruiter and an apartment at 130 Morningside Drive in West Harlem.
[4] The university decided Runyon’s block was the perfect new location for their School of Pharmacy and handed out eviction notices to residents overnight.
Runyon became an instant community activist and joined other neighborhood leaders such as Reverend Eugene Callender in the distribution of a letter that enlightened Harlemites to the dangers of city redevelopment and how Columbia’s plans will affect them.
During her time in office she served on housing, social services, labor, and cities committees;making her focus on criminal justice reform.
Afterwards Runyon remained active in tenants' affairs, and was Executive Director of the Harlem Restoration Project Inc.[6] Marie remained the head of the Harlem Restoration Project into the 1990s but she fought constantly with the members of the board who found her management style to be out of date and too authoritarian.
[10][11] In 2017, Runyon reported to the New York Post that at 102 she believes her meaningful work has kept her alive for so long and that she continues to enjoy a gin and tonic before bed every night.
[13] Runyon’s home even reflected a lifetime of activism, her apartment’s entry way was filled with buttons and pins promoting the various movements and causes she supported.