Marilyn Rhea Redwood

Marilyn Rhea Redwood - Marilyn was born in Martins Ferry, Ohio in 1924, the middle daughter of Coramae Quandt Rhea and Chleo James Jared Rhea. The family also included sisters Joanne and Nancy. They were living in Waconia, Minnesota when Marilyn graduated from high school in 1941 as valedictorian, but the family soon left the snowy north for Mobile, where her father took an engineering position with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Education was an important part of Marilyn’s life. She worked hard to put herself through college, graduating with honors from the University of Alabama in three years with a degree in psychology. She was a member of Mortar Board, Phi Beta Kappa and Alpha Lambda Delta.

Marilyn taught psychology at the University extension in Mobile and was also employed by South Central Bell. In 1953, she married Mobilian Richard Bowers Redwood, Jr. and they had two daughters, Alice and Beth. The family was very active at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church and Marilyn taught Sunday school there for many years.

In 1965, they moved to Bastrop, Louisiana for Richard’s job with International Paper Company. Marilyn had enjoyed Girl Scouts as a youth and in Bastrop, she became a Girl Scout leader to share those skills and experiences with her daughters. During those years, the family took long road trips each summer, camping across the country to visit many interesting sites.

In 1971, the family returned to Mobile. Marilyn was a wonderful cook, with signature recipes too numerous to list. She loved to sew, making clothes for herself and the girls, including Beth’s Azalea Trail Maid outfit. She was also skilled in needle arts and enjoyed working with customers in several Mobile knit shops as an instructor. The counted cross-stitch ornaments she fashioned each Christmas were a treat to receive, each picturing a highlight from the recipient’s life that year. She also made many lovely knitted items, needlepoint, cross-stitch, and felt designs to decorate her home or give as gifts.

Marilyn was devoted to her cat and also loved to socialize on the phone, play bridge with her friends, shop for bargains and watch her favorite soap opera. When Richard retired, the couple took a number of cruises and extended trips to Europe. She kept a journal for many years and delighted in filling albums with family snapshots and making vacation scrapbooks.

Marilyn passed from this life to the next on August 4, 2015, with family at her side. Preceded in death by her parents, older sister Joanne Glass, and husband Richard, her memory will be cherished by daughters Alice Huber (Bill) and Elizabeth Reinert (Jeff), grandsons Ryan Huber, Ivory Reinert (Meghan) and Simon Reinert (Shifra), her sister Nancy Dunklin, and nieces and nephews.

The family will receive visitors in the parish hall of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church at 10:00 am on August 13, with a service to follow at 11:00 am.

Many thanks to Knollwood Pointe, Brookside on Cody, and Allen Memorial Home along with Gentiva Hospice for their care. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Alzheimer's Association at 223 Gregory Street, Pensacola, FL 32502, http://act.alz.org/goto/caregiversunite or Friends of Magnolia Cemetery.

Condolences may be offered at www.radneyfuneralhome-mobile.com. Arrangements by Radney Funeral Home, 3155 Dauphin Street, Mobile, Alabama 36606.