Marvel Elaine Love

Marvel Love was born April 3, 1 940 in El Reno, Oklahoma to Jack and Faye Arthur. She is a sister to Debra Beasley. Due to her father's occupation in the Navy and later as a construction worker, she moved around frequently and was in a different school every year until her 7th grade year when the family moved to Lampasas, Texas.

She graduated from high school in Lampasas and married her high school sweetheart, Richard, and followed him to Texas A&M where he played college football. Marvel worked as a waitress for a brief spell and then in the Foundation Seedstock Building on the A&M campus while Richard pursued his degree. While in the A&M area, Marvel gave birth to two of her sons, Dale and Chip.

From there she went with her husband as he pursued his military career for a 3 Year tour of Germany where her third son, Rick, was born. After her husband left the military service in 1968, the family settled back in Lampasas for a few brief years where Marvel served as Sunday School Superintendent at the First United Methodist Church from 1969-70. She was also Bible School Superintendent at the same church in 1969 and a Cub Scout Den Leader in 1968-70.

When her 3 sons were old enough to all three be in a school setting, Marvel began her college career, first at CTC then finishing up her education degree at Mary Hardin-Baylor in Belton. It was during this time that the family moved from Lampasas to Copperas Cove, just a few miles down the road. This move was due to her husband's business involvement in the family Ford Dealership. The move was in 1971 and Copperas Cove quickly became her home town.

While attending college, Marvel was inducted into the Phi Theta Kappa National Honor Fraternity in 1971 then the Alpha Chi Honor Society in 1975. She was listed in Who's Who in American Universities and Colleges in 1971-75. Marvel made the Dean's List and Vice-President's List every year from 1971-75.

Marvel graduated from college in 1975 and immediately began to teaching in the CCISD system. She taught both 4th and 5th grades and retired after 20 years of teaching in 1995 due to her mother's illness. While teaching, she was honored with a Certificate of Appreciation from the Exchange Club in 1991 for directing her students in compiling a Bill of Rights Scrapbook. She also was chosen The Exchange Club Teacher of the Quarter in the spring of 1992 and the VFW Teacher of the Year also in 1992. Marvel taught 4th grade from 1975-87 and served as a Pilot Teacher for research into Teacher Evaluation. She switched to teaching 5th grade Social Studies in 1987 and became Department Chairperson soon after that, being involved with budget planning, writing campus plans, and ordering department materials. Marvel also directed her school newspaper activities and the annual campus geography contest. She served as a special ATPE representative during this time.

Marvel became involved in the Copperas Cove community in many ways. She was a member of Beta Sigma Phi Sorority from 1971-91 and served as president from 1988-89. She was also Arts and Crafts Chairperson for the Rabbit Fest in 1989-90. Marvel was a member of Delta Kappa Gamma Society International from 1983-86. Due to her husband's involvement in the local chamber, Marvel also gave of her time to the chamber's Military Affairs Committee. Marvel became very involved in supporting various sports activities in the schools due to her sons' participation in those activities. While her family owned the Copperas Cove Leader Press for 2 years, she wrote the Movie Critic Column, which was pure fun since she loved to attend the movies. For a year after her retirement from teaching, she worked on Warranty Submissions at her husband's Ford dealership. She also continued to do long term subbing in the CCISD system after retirement due to her love for teaching.

Marvel attended Sunday school and church at Grace United Methodist Church where she served on many different committees and served as the Fall Festival Chairman for two years. She also took extensive training in the Stephen Ministry program and was very happy to introduce it to her church and to use it on a personal basis. Marvel served on the board of the church's Alzheimer's Angel Care program. Marvel's favorite thing to do after retiring was to attend her church's women's group meetings. The UMW women became special friends to her for the rest of her life.

Marvel loved the Lord and her family and felt truly blessed with each of her sons, their wives, and all her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Because of her husband's business, Marvel was able to travel extensively through Ford programs and internationally through the Traveling Aggies group. She loved to camp (in a camper, no tent please), read, write, do arts and crafts, golf, Elvis Presley music, and keeping up with family genealogy.

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