Marlin Ewald Meese

Marlin E. Meese

Marlin Ewald Meese of Palmyra died Monday at the University of Virginia Medical Center after a brief illness. He was in many ways an ordinary man who was also an extraordinary husband and father. He will be greatly missed by innumerable family and friends who loved him dearly.

Marlin was born in 1932 in Faribault, Minnesota, third of four sons of Alton Meese and Alfreida (Piepho) Meese. He attended the public schools in Faribault, and was a member of the Boy Scouts. As a scout, he sometimes served as an usher at University of Minnesota football games.

After graduating from high school, he enlisted in the Navy, where he served as a radioman and electronics specialist on a P2V Neptune surveillance aircraft, in Patrol Squadron One, based in Whidbey Island, Washington. During the Korean War, Squadron One deployed to Okinawa, from which the Neptunes patrolled the straits of Formosa and waters off Korea.

After honorable discharge from the Navy in 1955, Marlin returned to Minnesota and attended what was then known as Mankato State College on the GI Bill, graduating with a degree in Mathematics in 1959. He met Rose Stegmaier in Makato, and they married in December of 1958.

In late 1959, Marlin took a job as an engineering draftsman for the Federal Bureau of Reclamation, in the Department of the Interior. After stints in Ogden, Utah and Sacramento, California, he transferred to the Federal Highway Administration, where he served as a real estate acquisition specialist, implementing federal standards governing the acquisition of land for the construction of the Interstate Highway System. He served in FHWA district offices in St. Paul, Minnesota, Providence, Rhode Island, and Phoenix, Arizona. He ended his Federal service in the FHWA headquarters in Washington, D.C., living in Fairfax, Virginia. While in Fairfax, he entered the Knights of Columbus, and ultimately advanced to Third Degree Knight.

In 1994, Marlin and Rose retired to Palmyra, Virginia, at Lake Monticello. An accomplished craftsman, woodworker, and amateur electrician, Marlin spent much of his retirement on various remodeling projects at home and elsewhere. He also participated in numerous projects for Habitat for Humanity in Fluvanna County and, with Rose, volunteered for the National Park Service at Humpback Rock Farm on the Blue Ridge Parkway. He was a member of the National Association of Retired Federal Employees.

Throughout his adult life Marlin focused on pursuing his lifelong dream of "getting married and providing for his family." He was first and foremost a family man, who loved his wife and children unconditionally. He cherished his grandchildren, who knew him as "Gramps Marlin" and "Grampsy." He was always quick to lend a helping hand to friends and family in need. (Once, clad only in a bath towel, he rushed to a neighbor's house and doused a fire consuming a new and poorly-assembled gas grill.). He loved to read the paper, particularly the comics, enjoyed a good meal, was fond of cars and an excellent driver, and he usually wore a hat. In his younger years he enjoyed swimming, particularly in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island and later in the family pool in Arizona. He liked romantic comedies, because they had happy endings and read numerous Robert Ludlum spy novels. He was a gentle soul, did not take himself too seriously, and he lived according to the golden rule.

He was preceded in death by his mother, father, and three brothers, Linford, Allan and Curtis.

He is survived by his wife of 51 years, Rose Meese of Palmyra; his children, Alan Meese and his wife, Kelly Metcalf-Meese, of Williamsburg and Theresa Meese Landow and her husband, Timothy Landow, of Palmyra. Also surviving are four grandchildren, Michael and Julia Meese and Joseph and Nikolaus Landow.

Funeral services will be handled by Hill and Wood Funeral Home in Charlottesville.

A funeral mass will be held at St. Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Palmyra 2 p.m. Tuesday, December 29, 2009.

Donations in memory of Marlin can be made to the Lake Monticello Fire and Rescue Squad, 10 Slice Road, Palmyra, Virginia 22963 or to the Lake Monticello Police Department, 855 Jefferson Dr., Palmyra, Virginia 22963.

Friends may sign the guest book at www.hillandwood.com.


This obituary was originally published in the Daily Progress.