Marilyn Morrissette Brandt

Marilyn Brandt died December 31, 2022 at Glenaire. She was born November 20, 1930 in Raleigh and lived there her whole life until moving to Glenaire Retirement Community in Cary in 2015. She was preceded in death by her parents, Alice Frood Morrissette and L.W. Morrissette, as well as her brother Warren Morrissette (Jeanne). Her mother Alice, a former elementary school teacher, home schooled Marilyn for the first grade, after which she attended Fred Olds Elementary School (grades 2-7) and Broughton High School, graduating in 1948. She received a B.A. in English from Meredith College in 1952 and an M.A. in English from Duke University in 1963. She taught English at N.C. State University 1963-1991, and was a tenured associate professor. During three summers in the 1960s, she taught in the original Governor’s School for the Gifted and Talented in Winston Salem. She married the late, Avery Upchurch in 1951 and they later divorced. Their children were Sara Forest, born 1957, died 1972 of bone cancer, and Edward Newton, born 1958.

In 1972, she married James L. Brandt. Marilyn and Jim met at Pullen Memorial Baptist Church, where she was a lifelong member. For twenty years she served as Pullen’s church librarian. After retirement in 1991 Marilyn and Jim enjoyed coastal life at their condo in Pine Knoll Shores, where she volunteered as copyeditor of The Shoreline, the town’s monthly newspaper. They took a number of trips to France, Italy and Great Britain. In Scotland and Canada they visited Marilyn’s Frood and Forest cousins and ancestral homes. After Jim died in 2012, and she moved to Glenaire, she volunteered in the Glenaire library and continued as a Shoreline copyeditor.

She is survived by her son, Edward Upchurch (Elizabeth); her granddaughters, Meredith Upchurch (David), Kathryn Upchurch (Adrian), and Caroline Walters (Andrew); and her sons by marriage, James B. (Bucky) Brandt and Robert K. Brandt (Lacey) and grandchildren, Margot K. and Beau L. Brandt.

A memorial service will be held at Pullen Memorial Baptist Church at 11 am on Tuesday, January 10, 2023. A reception will follow the service in Finlator Hall. Burial will be private.

In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to The Hope Center at Pullen, 112 Cox Avenue, Raleigh, NC 27605. The Hope Center aids young people transitioning out of foster care into life on their own.

Services provided by Brown-Wynne, Saint Mary's St., Raleigh, NC.