Marian Lou Lawrence

Marian Lou Lawrence, age 82, passed peacefully with both of her children by her side. Marian was born on January 9, 1942, in Glendale, California and died on Friday, January 3, 2025, in Norco, California, just 6 days shy of her 83rd birthday. She is a second of five generations of native Californians on her mother's side.

Marian had a tumultuous childhood. She graduated high school from Azuza High in 1959. She was married at 18 and had her first child at 19 1/2. When she got married to Franklin Dell Haralson, she was working at a dry cleaner. She learned to cook by reading cookbooks after she got married. She never felt that she did well in school, but became an avid reader as an adult.

Marian was often called "Josephine the Plumber" because she could fix almost anything. She loved sewing, crocheting, knitting, embroidery, cross-stitch, and many other types of craftwork. She made clothes for her children when they were young and she made her own formal gowns for special occasions. She also learned cake decorating which continues to be passed down the generations to her great-grandchildren. Marian often opted not to buy things often because she preferred to make the things that she saw herself. She was heard many times saying "I can make that," and would make good on that statement a short time later.

She was a Bluebird leader and assistant Campfire Girl leader, a PTA treasurer, a team mom for softball, and was involved in her children's lives, going to every soccer game, choir and theater performance throughout their years in school.

She re-entered the workforce after 11 years of marriage and her first divorce, and worked for numerous insurance companies, retiring as a business analyst from Colonial Insurance Company of California, a nonstandard auto subsidiary of Nationwide Insurance Company.

She married a second time, but regrettably so, as she was divorced within four years. She never remarried again and lived alone for 45 years until moving to her daughter's home for the last 4 years of her life.

She spent years of her life serving the church and in later years still enjoyed Sunday sermons, even online, when she couldn't physically be there.

She enjoyed spending time with family and took care of her mom and step-dad into their elder years. She was a good mother, sacrificing for, and helping her children anytime they needed her. She loved her grandchildren dearly. She always enjoyed a new baby in the family. She has seven great-grandchildren.

In the last two years of her life, dna testing revealed that she was a first generation American via her biological father who came to America with his mother through Ellis Island at the age of 10 from Romania in 1910. Her biological father's name is Louis Trojan Tabak, Sr. It is notable that Marian's middle name is Lou.

Marian outlived her parents and all of her siblings. She is survived by her two children: daughter, Tracy Diane Wilhite (Robert Nicholas) and son, Lonnie Franklin Haralson (Nicole Lee); grandchildren: Kari Lynn Broy, Chelsy Marie DeBoer (Douglas Donald) Austin Nicholas Wilhite (Chelsey Blu), Garrett Stephen Wilhite (Katherine Grace), Tikvah Rose Wilhite, Taylor Allen Butler, and Peyton Lee Butler; her great-grandchildren: Christopher Austin (CJ) Broy, Wendy Marie DeBoer, Amber Grace DeBoer, Lillian Blu Wilhite, James Nicholas Wilhite, Madilynn Rose Wilhite, and Daisy Jane Wilhite.

We are grateful for the many beautiful parts of her life and we will miss her.