Marilynne Louise Kendrick

She was born Marilynne Louise Robins on October 8, 1943, in San Diego, California, the first child of Arthur and Barbara Robins. Her twin brothers, Daryl and David, arrived just thirteen months later while her father was deployed with the Navy to the Pacific theatre. He returned to three children and no work, and moved the family to the Yakima Valley, which Marilynne would call home for nearly all of her life.

She graduated from Eisenhower High School in 1961, about the time her baby brother, Randy, was born — she would raise him almost as her own while working at a local drive-in and later the Kwik-Lok factory.

In 1972 she married Mike Kendrick. She built a doll repair and collecting business of her own and lived an active outdoor life of camping, water skiing, and hunting, but she never gave up her dream of being a mom, and in 1979, at age 35, she gave birth to her son, Mark Kendrick, who immediately became her entire world, around which everything else had to align.

When Marilynne found herself raising Mark as a single mother, she resolved not to cede his care to others and became an entrepreneur working out of her home. She taught piano and organ lessons, took over the franchise of a music-based preschool program, and later added a daycare to scale the business. These programs provided for her family and enabled her to touch the lives of perhaps hundreds of children. It was the happiest time of her life, and happier still when, at 45, she adopted a two-month-old baby girl whom she and Mark named Angela.

While her son geeked out at home with electronics and computers, her daughter threw herself into school activities, sports, and community events — so Marilynne started an embroidery business, which she operated successfully until retiring in 2021, free at last to begin sewing projects of her own.

Marilynne fought and won her first battle with cancer when her son was in college and her daughter in high school. Recently she renewed that struggle while navigating a growing set of health and life challenges, yet she remained doggedly optimistic for her prospects. The Lord granted her enough health to hold her grandchildren, Owen and Laila, each born a few years apart to her daughter while Marilynne was in the throes of a health crisis she overcame by the grace of God and her indomitable will to live.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Arthur and Barbara Robins, and her brother, Randy Robins.

She is survived by her son, Mark Kendrick; her daughter and son-in-law, Angela and Derek Grafenauer, and their children, Owen and Laila; her twin brothers, Daryl and David Robins, and their families; her cousins of the Robins and Vincent families; her lifelong best friend, Toni Webb; and countless others who were forever impacted by her love, wisdom, verve, and boundless generosity of spirit.

A Funeral Service will be held at Life Church Yakima, 1019 Cornell Ave, Yakima, WA 98902, US, on August 5, 2026, at 10:00 am.

A Graveside Committal will take place at Tahoma Cemetery, 1802 W Tahoma Ave, Yakima, WA 98902, US, on August 5, 2026, at 12:00 pm.