Marilyn Louise Mack

1942 - 2021

Marilyn Louise Mack
July 26, 1942 - April 26, 2021
Riverbank, California - Marilyn Louise Mack passed away on April 26, 2021 at home in Riverbank, CA, surrounded by family, after living for ten years with carcinoid cancer. Marilyn was born July 26, 1942 in Oakland, California, where she lived during the war with her mother. She remembered those years of her dad being in the South Pacific as a Marine at a time of black-out shades and sugar and shoe rations. After the war, her family moved to Modesto, where she lived until high school.
She graduated from Bullard High School in Fresno in 1960 and attended Fresno State as a proud member of the Delta Gamma sorority. During summers while in college, she would spend time with her family as they vacationed in Yosemite Valley. During one of those trips, she met John Mack while cooling off in the Merced River. Their first date was made memorable when a bear sauntered alarmingly close. Their long-distance dating was interrupted when John was drafted into the Army and sent to Oklahoma. In July 1963, soon after he was discharged, they got married and lived in Sacramento where she attended Sacramento State, graduating with a degree in Education.
They moved to Fresno in 1964, where Evan was born in 1966, and Karen in 1969. In 1972, Marilyn and John bought land in Clovis where they built a family home with a large deck, lots of grass, a huge garden with rows of fruit trees, a pasture for cattle, and a pool where they enjoyed hosting gatherings of family and friends. During summers they would take the family to Laguna Beach and camping in some of our most beautiful places — National Parks around the west, up to Canada, and to lakes in the Sierras, particularly Huntington Lake. Later, during the two years they lived in Arizona for John's work, Marilyn's curiosity led them to visit every corner of the Southwest to see out-of-the-way beautiful natural and cultural treasures and to make multiple trips to the Grand Canyon.
After returning to California, Marilyn continued to teach, spending many years as a devoted junior high teacher at Hart Ransom School. She held high expectations for students in her highly organized English and Social Studies classes, which she brought to life with a curriculum infused with anecdotes and artifacts gathered during her travels throughout the US and the world. Over the years, she trained many aspiring teachers, and her legacy will live on in their classrooms. After retiring, Marilyn and John continued to travel extensively, fueled by her curiosity to see all corners of the world and to meet people from a range of other cultures. Together, she and John ventured to every continent except Antarctica.
At home, she was devoted to volunteering at church, singing in the choir and spending time with her dear friends and family. She maintained that devotion through her "can do" personality: When someone needed help or something needed to be planned, she would dive in and get the job done, and done well. Marilyn was that relative, friend, volunteer and most importantly mother and grandmother whom you could depend on at all times.
Marilyn was dependable virtually until her final days; even as her health declined, she remained committed to ensuring that her family would remain close and comforted. In her final days she was comforted by the knowledge that with Christ, there is great hope beyond this life.
She is survived by John, her devoted husband of 57 years, son Evan Mack (Val), daughter Karen Fee (Mike) and three beloved grandchildren, Mack, Catie and Declan Fee, brothers, Alan (Bev) Doswald and Brian (Dorothy) Doswald and many dearly loved nieces, nephews and great-nieces and nephews. Marilyn is predeceased by her parents, John and Phyllis Doswald and brother, Norman Doswald.
There will be a public service with a live stream on May 5, 2021 at 11:00 at Big Valley Grace Community Church in Modesto and a private burial at the National Cemetery at Santa Nella. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Vine House Modesto, a local ministry, at www.vinehousemodesto.com.