Marilyn Evelyn Dyer

As a child, she enjoyed school and studying ballet and tap at the Evelyn LeMone Studio. As a teen, Marilyn taught ballet and tap in exchange for her lessons. She was a song girl at Pasadena High School where she graduated in 1958. Marilyn attended Pasadena City College for a short time.

She married Michael George Dyer, in 1959, and had four children, Dolores, Michael, Dan and Tina. They moved to Ventura in 1965. She was a homemaker and enjoyed sewing, embroidery, and crewel work making wall hangings for her friends and relatives.

Marilyn took some classes at Ventura College studying dance. She returned to teaching dance in 1979 and in this same year the family moved into a large Victorian home on Front Street in downtown Ventura. Marilyn founded Dance Emporium store in that house in 1980 and it was open until 1984 selling dance shoes and clothing which at that time were hard to find in Ventura. She actively promoted dance in Ventura and working with others Marilyn helped create the first “Day of Dance” event. She was also a member of the Orchesis Dance Ensemble performing modern dance in Ventura and Ojai.

Later, Marilyn worked in retail sales at J.C. Penney. In her spare time, she enjoyed writing and loved watching dance performances on television and liked all kinds of music.

In recent years, Marilyn enjoyed her days at the Club Camarillo senior center where she made many new friends and was well cared for by the kind staff there. She loved visiting her grandchildren in Idaho and Skyping and talking on the phone with them between visits.

Marilyn is preceded in death by her mother, Dorothee Benson Hodges and her father, Foy F. Hodges; brother, Herbert Hodges; sister, Patricia Crosby; and ex-husband, Michael Dyer.

She is survived by her brother, Richard Hodges of Laguna Woods, CA; daughter, Dolores (John) Castellano of Oxnard, CA; son, Mike Dyer of Santa Paula, CA, son, Dan Dyer (Ben Hu) of San Francisco, CA; daughter, Tina (Scott) Whitehurst; granddaughters, Sarah, 8, and Emily Whitehurst, 7, of Athol, ID; and nieces and nephews from Portland, Oregon to Baltimore, Maryland.

A Memorial service will be held on Monday, June 9, 2014, 11:00 a.m., at the Ventura Center for Spiritual Living, 101 S. Laurel Street, Ventura, CA 93001.

Arrangements are under the direction of the Ted Mayr Funeral Home, 3150 Loma Vista Road, Ventura