MARILYN SMOOT

Thinking about Marilyn today and reflecting on some good times with her at the zoo. Eleven years ago after her funeral, we got a chocolate labrador at a roadside "puppies for sale" near the cemetery. Mousse has a white face now, and limps badly, but still having good days. Today, we attended another funeral for a friend of our daughter's and it got me thinking about how fast life moves, and about those who already have left this world. I do hope we will meet again. The song, "Now We...

Another year gone by ... and she was still a great person.

Marilyn was such a good friend, not only at the Zoo, but outside of work, too. At the Zoo she always answered the phone with a cheery "Smoot here!" She was great at remembering to send holiday and birthday cards. We miss her geatly, and remember her fondly!

I didn't know Marilyn before our 40's, but dearly wanted to meet her because our mutual friends in college always recounted many funny and intriguing stories about her. Fortunately, I was able to meet Marilyn in the 90's through a group of women who dined monthly together. For many years we would go to a local restaurant and have a "hoot" of a time! Marilyn's favorite restaurant, and the one we most visited, was Max Mercier's French-Italian restaurant downtown--she absolutely love it! What...

Marilyn always good for a hardy laugh all through our Junior and High school years especially in Mr.Freeman's Chem. class- a true friend during those years even though I was from the other side of the tracks she was a person who didn't care about those kind of things.

I remember many fun parties and get-togethers with Marilyn from Jr. High on. Her laugh was ever present.

We did a dance together in Connie Jo's class which was so fun. We started out all dramatic on opposites ends of the ballroom and ended crawling towards each other, desperate to connect. When our fingers finally did touch, we recoiled in revulsion. The class roared. I'll never forget the sound of her "EEEOOO."

It was fun reconnecting with her when I featured her in...

I have so many fond stories of Marilyn! She always gave me special zoo tours when I came to visit Salt Lake from Montana with my little girl. We loved her penguins and little hippo. And she came to Montana with Mary Jenkins Lloyd some years ago. We had so much fun, laughed, cried and talked long and hard about life's quirks. Marilyn was always a "star" in so many of my East High comedy/drama memories. I will never forget the wild rides down "I" street in her VW beetle! I hope you are...

What a friend! Even though I lost contact the last couple of years, I will always remember Marilyn as a dear friend. The world just got a little duller without her in it. RIP Marilyn, thank you for all the great memories and your unwavering friendship!

In my first summer as a closing keeper for Hogle Zoo, Marilyn trained me on how to bring "Moe-pig" in for the night, closing the outer door, and walking out "only when he was in the pool!" to drop the pin in the lock. You don't want to race a hippo! Haw, haw, haw!!! Marilyn taught me well about safety, the finer points of hippos, how to feed nasty-biting baby penguins, and life. I missed her before, and I miss her now, and I wish I had paid more attention because she obviously had a lot to...