Marilyn Martha Marshall

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

On Thursday, September 9th, Marilyn Martha Marshall, mother of three and grandmother of six, died at the age of 89.

Marilyn was born on November 16, 1931 in Barberton, Ohio to mother, Hazel Kremple, a local farm girl, and father, Joseph Kremple, a Hungarian immigrant. Marilyn earned a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from Bowling Green State University in 1953, where she was in the Alpha Chi Omega sorority. In 1955, she and her husband and daughter moved to California where she lived the rest of her life. She was a kindergarten teacher for fifteen years, mostly in the Saratoga Union School district in Santa Clara County. In 1975 she earned a Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology from Santa Clara University, after which she transitioned to a career as a counselor at Redwood Junior High School. A beloved teacher and counselor, she was recognized by former students in the area for years afterwards.

Marilyn had a passion for the beauty of the outdoors, starting with her childhood in Ohio. She often spoke of her memories of summers on Lake Erie, and she took that enjoyment of nature with her to California. She loved the redwoods of Mount Hermon in the Santa Cruz mountains, her favorite place, as well as the beaches of the California coast. When they were young, she took her children on many road trips to see all that the west coast had to offer, instilling in them the same deep appreciation for nature. She loved the high desert, both Yucca Valley, where her parents retired, and Palm Desert, where she lived during part of her retirement. Marilyn also loved people, and she was a member of Saratoga Federated Church, singing in the choir there, beginning in the early 1960s. Church and her faith remained of primary importance throughout her life.

What her family will treasure most in their memories of Marilyn is her capacity to find humor in all situations. She had that rare and infectious ability to laugh at herself, and her family finds that when they share stories of their mother and grandmother, they are mostly laughing.

Marilyn was preceded in death by her father, Joe, her mother, Hazel, and by her brother Bobby. She is survived by her children, Kim Knowlton, of Laguna Niguel, California, Tom Knowlton, of Groveland, California and Kelly Knowlton Craigmile, of Atlanta, Georgia, as well as her grandchildren, Joshua, Christopher, Annalee, Eli, Michael and Tommy Shea.