Elmer David Marlin

MARCH 9, 1924 – JUNE 2, 2022

Elmer Marlin, 98, of Palm City died Thursday, June 2nd at Harbor Chase, Stuart FL.

That's a fact. It is also a fact that most who knew Elmer were surprised. Even at 98, he seemed way too strong willed; too adventurous; too solutions-oriented; and way too cantankerous to die.

Born in Brooklyn in the depths of the Depression, forged in the heat of World War II, he was a D-Day combat veteran, fisherman, farmer, diesel mechanic, rocket scientist, corporate executive, husband (twice); father to five, and grandfather to nine, and friend to many, who was always young at heart. For years, he also was a tough ice hockey player.

In the end, as Elmer might say, his radiator simply stopped radiating, his carburetor stopped carburating, and his pistons stopped too. He did not go gently.

Until a few months ago, Elmer lived in his house in Palm City alone. He had a bad heart, lungs, and kidneys. His balance was off. He had a detached retina in one eye. and macular degeneration in both eyes. He had gotten progressively weaker, but he would not yield. Many tried to get him to allow others in - or to move to an assisted living facility. He wouldn’t have it. Just as he refused to use a cane, walker or wheelchair. He said that age is in your head – not his. He defined fortitude. We learned.

Elmer landed on Utah beach Normandy on D-Day 1944 - and would not talk about it – or about what happened when fighting his way to Belgium’s border with Germany - where he was seriously injured and eventually sent to hospitals at home to recover. (He was barely 20 years old.). He defined stoic.

Elmer was a friend to people of every stripe: engineer, handyman, plumber, executive, housekeeper, mechanic, lawyer. farmer, doctor, fisherman, corporate executive and billionaire. He showed us by example how to treat people.

He loved the sea. After the war, Elmer married Edith, his high school sweetheart and became a commercial fisherman - running one boat, the “Marlin II”, out of Sheepshead Bay Brooklyn – and, from Manhattan, another one - the “Falcon” - a 110’ submarine chaser that he bought at auction and converted to a charter fishing boat. It was fast! Elmer never lost his love for the sea - or for fishing. He taught all a lot – including how to tell others about your catch. (“The first liar never wins”.)

In his late 20s, Elmer sold the fishing boats and (with a partner) bought a coastal oil tanker that soon sank in New York harbor. It wiped him out. But he didn’t quit. Elmer, Edith and his new son, Ken, left Brooklyn for the University of New Mexico (low tuition + GI bill + some insurance money from the tanker + income as Edith taught elementary school. They made it work.) A daughter, Nancy, was born. Elmer earned engineering degrees and became a rocket scientist specializing in thermodynamics. He showed us that you can be whatever you want to be if you are willing to work hard at it.

In his 30s, Elmer moved the family to Arizona where he worked on the Mercury and Gemini space programs and the C5A “Galaxy” among others. He bought a boat that he could trailer to local lakes - and to the Gulf of Mexico, where he found the best spots for sailfish and grouper.

In his 40s, he and Edith divorced. Later, Elmer married Billie Jean and merged her three kids (Steve, Laure and Kathe Dreiseszun) with his. It worked. More adventures – in Mexico, Yellowstone, Lake Powell in its infancy and more. They all loved each other.

In his 50s, Elmer’s employer folded, and he had to change careers. He persevered - moving the family to Indiana where he (eventually) spent 20+ years as a senior executive at the Cummins Engine Company. He was proud of much - including being the godfather of Cummins’ small diesel engine - the one that you see in RAM trucks, as well as being the driving force behind operations in Pune, India, Rocky Mount, NC, and more. At Cummins, Elmer was known for being willing to speak truth to power. Another trait that he taught us all.

Cummins is based in Columbus Indiana, farm country. Elmer, the Brooklyn boy, the fisherman, also loved animals – and mechanical things. So he and Billie Jean bought a farm – and built a boarding kennel. They worked on the farm and the kennel 7 days a week, while he also worked hard at Cummins. They created a full-time paradise. There were cattle and corn and hay of course, also dogs (a lot of them), cats, Quacker the duck, Aries the ram and horses, including Tony, a quarter-horse that had been a barrel racer. Elmer showed by example how hard work and fun are completely compatible, if you love what you are doing.

When he was in his 60s, Elmer's sons were into downhill snow skiing. It was not one of Elmer’s strengths. But that didn’t stop him from accompanying them on yearly treks to ski resorts throughout the US, France, Austria and Switzerland. That’s when they first realized that he was afraid of heights. He never actually told anyone that. And it certainly didn’t stop him. Although he did hold on very tight to the back of the ski lift chair. He never mastered skiing ,but he never met a ski run that he wouldn’t try, if his sons did. He never backed away from a challenge. When he fell, he got up and went at it again. Another life lesson from Elmer.

Elmer retired from Cummins to the farm. When Billie Jean died, he sold the farm and went back to the sea. He bought a small house in Palm City with a dock out back. Then he bought the Marlin III, a 1972, 48 foot Hatteras, with two big beautiful Detroit Diesel engines. (Not Cummins engines - but almost as good.)

He loved nothing more than taking friends and family out on the Marlin III for a day cruise or to the Bahamas for longer trips. The boat is still there. Tied up behind his house. We need him - No one else knows why we have to turn flip the switch marked “ice maker” in order to turn on the lights in the engine room.

Elmer is gone now. But not forgotten. His legacy lives in the examples he set and the lessons he taught to his family, his colleagues, and his friends (including Laura Donovan, niece of his late-in-life girlfriend Maryjane (she died too), who often visited and was there at the end).

He will be sorely missed by his family: Ken Marlin and Jacqueline Barnathan; Steve and Toni Dreiseszun; Nancy Marlin-Snyder and Don Snyder; Laure and Chris Reynolds; Kathe and Tim Ogle; along with his 9 grandchildren: Victoria Marlin; Meghan Snyder and Eric Flood; Mya Snyder; Spencer Dreiseszun; Ryan Ogle and Eleanore Ogle; Matt Ogle and Michelle Ogle; Andrew Ogle and Lauren Ogle; Jessica Reynolds; Chase Reynolds and the five great grandkids too.

Elmer was the person most of us would choose to be stranded with on a deserted island. (Actually, he was once shipwrecked and stranded on a small deserted Bahama island - apparently sometimes used by drug smugglers, but that’s a story for another day.)

His never-quit, no-excuses, find-a-solution, fix-the-problem, keep-going, love-the-adventure, attitude enriched all of our lives. He wasn't neat. (He put greasy engine parts on the kitchen counter, tracked in mud, and dropped food.) He wasn’t political. (He spoke truth to power and was less than polite to people who thought he needed help.) But he lived a lot; loved many, and could build or fix anything (MacGyver in the flesh). If there are a few parts left over, it probably works better that way.

Many will miss him.

Elmer Marlin was born in Brooklyn, NY on March 9th 1924 to George and Mae Margolin.

In lieu of flowers, Memorials in the name of “Elmer Marlin” may be made to Treasure Coast Hospice https://www.treasurehealth.org/ or "Billie & Elmer Marlin Memorial to benefit the Bartholomew County Humane Society” via https://www.heritagefundbc.org. (Click on "Give Now” -- Please indicate "Billie & Elmer Marlin" in the "Person being remembered/honored" memo field.)

Checks may also be sent directly to: Heritage Fund, P.O. Box 1547, 538 Franklin St. Columbus, IN 47201. Please indicate "Billie & Elmer Marlin" in the memo line.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.youngandprill.com for the Marlin family.