Marilyn Joy Bays

Marilyn was raised in Nampa and attended College High on the Northwest Nazarene College campus. In fact, she was in the final graduating class in 1959. She attended NNC for one year and remained as an employee in the admissions office for a few years.

During a church league softball game, Marilyn met Norm DeVries and they were married August 28, 1961. Their daughter, Cari, was born in September 1962.

Marilyn and her family moved to Portland OR in 1964 where she began working at LaGrand Industrial Supply and remained there for 46 years! She was an active member of Central Church of the Nazarene in Portland, serving as the organist for decades. She was also a church board member, women’s ministries leader, Jr High choir director, and youth group sponsor, and part of a work & witness team to Western Samoa and JESUS film team to Panama.

After 20 years of marriage, Marilyn and Norm divorced. She met the love of her life, Carroll Fuller, marrying in 1990 and remaining together until his death in 2004. In 2011, Marilyn married Bob Bays and moved to Vancouver WA, joining Liberty Bible Church of the Nazarene. Marilyn was a greeter and enjoyed being part of women’s bible studies, small groups, and Widows/Widowers meetings after Bob’s death in 2020.

In November 2024, Marilyn was diagnosed with cancer and joined her parents and brother in heaven on November 13, 2025.

During Marilyn’s life she happily became a stepmother, grandma and great-grandma, and a mother figure to so many. She loved all her ‘bonus kids’ and being ‘Gramma Marilyn’. She also loved her friends, enjoying trips to visit people and places and (especially) restaurants.

Let’s keep telling each other our stories about Marilyn and how she impacted our lives, then smile and be glad that someday we’ll see her again in heaven!