Etta Marian Daugherty

Etta Marian Daugherty passed away in her sleep on October 28, 2021. Marian, as her friends and family called her, was born on February 7th, 1922 in Decatur, Illinois. The daughter of Roy and Reva Troxel, she grew up during the Great Depression on the family farm in nearby Cerro Gordo, Illinois along with her brother, Bill, and, at various times, aunts, uncles, and cousins. An excellent student and a good athlete, she was valedictorian of her high school class and an accomplished tennis player. After graduating from high school Marian enrolled in and graduated from Nurses Training School and that would lead to a long and gratifying career as a registered nurse. At the age of 20 and shortly after the beginning of World War II, she and her brother, Bill, walked from the family farm down a country road and enlisted in the military, Marian in the Army and Bill in the Air Force. It was during Army training camp that she met Frank Daugherty. Frank became a lieutenant in the Army and was shipped to Europe while Marian was shipped to England where she spent most of the war tending to wounded soldiers as an Army nurse. She and Frank somehow managed to keep in touch during the war and married shortly after the war’s conclusion in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Marian then started her nursing career while beginning, along with her husband, Frank, to raise a family. They had four children while living in Indianapolis. Their third child Gary, however, had several bouts with pneumonia as a very young child. His doctor told Marian and Frank that he might not be able survive another Midwest winter so in 1957 they packed their four children into their Chevy station wagon and drove west, across Route 66, to Los Angeles, California. In 1959 Marian and Frank and their four children moved south to the then small-town of Santee, California where they had their fifth child. They resumed their careers and continued to raise their family in Santee and would spend the remainder of their lives there. Frank passed away in 2010. He and Marian had a wonderful loving marriage of 64 years.

Marian was an excellent bridge player and enjoyed playing with her friends around town and, during her later years, in the park in which she lived. At the age of 42, she began to play the game of golf. She developed a passion for the game so after retiring at the age of 62 she played nearly every day and became a very good golfer. She quit playing golf at the age of 84 in order to spend all of her time being with and caring for Frank, who had developed health problems, but continued practicing her putting every day for the rest of her life. She also loved to read and, well into the nineties, took daily walks around her beautiful park, her neighbors occasionally saying hello as if to a living legend. Quiet, humble, and soft spoken, she always greeted her family, friends, and anyone else she encountered with a beautiful radiant smile. She was completely devoted to her husband, Frank, and her five children and was deeply loved and greatly admired by them. A shining example of the “greatest generation”, she spent her whole life selflessly caring for her family and so many others. She will be greatly missed!

Marian is survived by her children, daughters and sons-in-law, her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Frank and Margaret, and their daughters Kwai Mei and Kayla, Glen Daugherty, Brett and Tammy, and their daughter Ashley, her husband James and their daughter Madi, Kathy and Mickey, and their daughter Erin, and son Chris and his wife Tabby, with their daughters Josie and Jules.

Marian’s beloved son Gary passed away in 2015 and lives on in the hearts of Paula and George Moreno, and their daughters Heather, her husband Shan Colson, with children Chance and Ireland, and Hannah, her husband Doran Ford, with children Ashton and Ireland. Marian is also survived by his children Zoe and Haddon Williams, with son Nathan, Zachary and Amelia Santiago and sister Zoe Santiago.