Marilyn Mae Hiatt

Marilyn Mae (Brownlee) Hiatt died peacefully at home on January 14, 2026, joining her husband and best friend, John Hiatt, on their next great adventure. Marilyn was born at home in Leslie, Michigan, on December 31, 1929, to Lloyd and Luella (Warner) Brownlee.

As a child, Marilyn lived in the Leslie area, as well as in Delta Mills. She attended elementary school in Delta Mills until around nine years old, when her family moved to their Schavey Road home in DeWitt. Marilyn attended the DeWitt Public Schools (yes, walking to school, even in the snow!), where she played basketball on the DeWitt High School varsity basketball team and performed in the high school plays. As a teenager, Marilyn worked as a soda jerk for Percy Carris at the DeWitt Pharmacy and later at Kresge's Five and Dime in Downtown Lansing.

Marilyn enjoyed attending dances with her brothers and sister and their friends and swore that she would never marry a man who wouldn't dance. Fortunately for her (and him), one of her school chums, Johnny Hiatt, loved to dance. She and John were married on June 26, 1948, after his discharge from the Army at the end of WWII. They began their married life together, living in a small trailer in the backyard of John's parents' Bridge Street home while they built their forever home on Turner Street in DeWitt. Four daughters soon followed: Sandra, Deborah, Stephanie, and Denice.

Marilyn’s husband, daughters, and grandchildren were the center of her world. Nearly everything she did centered around her family and her community. She taught Sunday School for a time at the DeWitt Community Church, was a member of the Eastern Stars, and touched the lives of many young girls in DeWitt through her work with the Job's Daughters. As a Girl Scout leader, she took the girls camping and taught them skills they would use throughout their adulthood. For many years, Marilyn baked pies for the Ox Roast and enlisted her Girl Scouts to staff the "fishpond" in the Ox Roast game tent. She was an active member of the DeWitt Band Boosters, sewed uniforms for the junior high school cheerleaders and costumes for her daughters and their classmates for special school events, and she and John could always be counted on to chaperone their daughters' school dances.

While Marilyn would describe herself as a homemaker, she was much, much more. She was a helpmate to her husband, with whom she established a wonderful and loving partnership spanning 72 years. In the 1950s, they, along with Virgil and Irene Zeeb, ran the DeWitt Theater (now the home of Reilly's Bar). Marilyn became John's business partner and secretary when he ran his own fuel oil company, delivering home heating fuel to DeWitt-area residents. Once all their daughters were in school, Marilyn worked in the cafeteria at the DeWitt Public Schools. And when their daughters began leaving the nest, Marilyn took a job with the Michigan Department of Treasury until her retirement in 1990. John had long dreamed of building a golf course. When he won the Michigan Lottery in 1973, Marilyn happily helped fulfill that dream – both financially and with her physical labor – and they built his golf course right across the street from their Turner Street home. Marilyn enjoyed traveling, and she and John traveled both around the United States and to many countries around the globe.

Marilyn was a woman of many talents. She loved spending time outside, camping, gardening, and birdwatching. She could identify nearly any plant and bird by name on sight. She was a lifelong learner, read voraciously, and also enjoyed working puzzles. Marilyn was a wonderful seamstress and loved to knit, crochet, and embroider. She donated Barbie dolls, along with beautiful, crocheted outfits for them, to the annual DeWitt Christmas charity for children. She could make beautiful Christmas ornaments out of tin cans and paper, candles out of milk cartons, and grow a beautiful bush from a twig. She was independent, resourceful, young at heart, and the consummate do-it-yourselfer. Most of all, she was a loyal and dependable wife, mother, grandmother, aunt, and friend. She enjoyed playing Uno, Farkle, bocci ball, badminton, and croquet with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Her home and heart were always open to her family and friends, where many were given temporary shelter.

Marilyn was preceded in death by her parents, Lloyd and Luella Brownlee; her loving husband, John H. Hiatt; her brother, Melvin Brownlee, and his wife, Darlene; her brother, Harley Brownlee, and his wife, Audrea; her sister, Joyce (Brownlee) DeYoe, and her husband, Darwin DeYoe; her son-in-law, Matthew A. Purves; and her grandson, Stephen M. Purves.

Marilyn is survived by her daughters, Sandra Hiatt (Rick Masters), Deborah Hiatt, Stephanie Hiatt, and Denice Hiatt Purves; her grandchildren, Matthew Purves (Julie Barrett), David Purves, Christina Purves, Christopher Purves, and Rachel Purves; her great-grandchildren, Connor Purves, Kayleigh Purves, Finn Purves, and Colin Purves; and her great great-grandson, Jaxson Purves.

A memorial service will be held for both John and Marilyn Hiatt on Saturday, May 16, 2026, at 2:00 p.m., at the Gorsline Runciman Funeral Home, 205 E. Washington Street, DeWitt, Michigan. Guests are invited to come and share their memories of John and Marilyn.

Marilyn's daughters extend their sincere thanks and gratitude to the following for the wonderful care and support Marilyn received:

• U of M Sparrow Home Health Care

• U of M Sparrow Wound Clinic of St. Johns

• U of M Sparrow Palliative Care

• U of M Sparrow Hospice

• Harmony Care

• Dr. Jennifer Whitman of DeWitt Downtown Chiropractic

• Jaime Skeltis of the Purple Lotus Massage

Charitable contributions to honor John's and Marilyn's memory may be sent to:

It's a Breast Thing

P.O. Box 743

East Lansing, Michigan 48825

or

DeWitt VFW Post 671

P.O. Box 378

DeWitt, Michigan 48820