Marilyn Jean Lund

Marilyn Jean (Spoehr) Lund

November 7, 2025

Marilyn Lund, age 97, of Lexington, MA passed away on November 7, 2025, peacefully surrounded and uplifted by her family. Marilyn was born in Detroit, MI, where her father was a family doctor. Marilyn is survived by her loving husband of 75 years, Robert "Bob" Tosdal Lund, her children Betsy (David) Zahniser, Kathy (Eric) Lund-Wilde and Eric (Sue) Lund, grandchildren Russell (Megan) Zahniser, Michael (Christina Tinglof) Zahniser, Anne (Robert) Umberger, Joshua (Kristin) Wilde, Jocelyn (Andrew) Fiore, Sarah (Tom Brezniak) Lund, and Jeremy Lund, and seven great-grandchildren, James, Luke, John, Evan, Benjamin, Callum, and Oliver. Marilyn was preceded in death by her father, Dr. Eugene Loy Spoehr, her mother Grace Ottillie (Decker) Spoehr and her beloved brother Eugene "Jack" Spoehr and his wife Olga. A private family burial will be held on Thursday, November 13, 2025. Family and friends will be invited to a memorial service to be held later. A shiva service will be held at Mount Zion Temple in St Paul, MN on Monday, November 17 at 7:00 PM. In lieu of flowers please consider a memorial donation to The Union of Concerned Scientists, The Home for Little Wanderers in Boston, or The Greater Boston Food Bank.

Marilyn accomplished many things in her long lifetime. The threads running through them all were her passion for learning, her love for her family, her engagement with people and community, and her love of nature. Starting always with her family - the family she came from, the family she and Bob raised, and the people she drew into her family as naturally as if she had raised them herself - Marilyn reached out into the world to connect with every person she met, lift them up and bring them together.

Just after WWII, Marilyn moved from her native Detroit to study History and Sociology at Wellesley College, for her bachelor's degree. In the student group at University Lutheran Church in Cambridge, she met Bob Lund, her true love and life partner in all things. Marilyn and Bob were married on July 1, 1950, living first in Cambridge and Watertown, MA, raising their children in West Acton, Carlisle, and Weston, and finally settling in Lexington, MA. In every home and job, and as they welcomed their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, Bob and Marilyn were each other's constant companion, supporter and confidant. He was her true love and she was his.

As her children were growing up, Marilyn went back to school to earn her Master's degree in Education from Boston University, and became Needham, MA's first Special Education teacher, at St Joseph's School. Marilyn worked closely with every student, learning who each one was and finding out exactly what was holding them back. Whether it was perceptual challenges, cognitive challenges, hearing problems, eyesight, or just their approach to school, Marilyn helped each student identify their strengths and weaknesses, then guided them skillfully into the world of learning. Her Resource Room was a place of joy and wonder for all students, whether they were her specific charges or not. After leaving the Needham school system, Marilyn continued her work with students as an independent volunteer advocate, helping parents and students navigate the challenges of Individual Educational Plans, testing, and school bureaucracy. Later, in Lexington, Marilyn took the job of coordinating Lexington's Laubach Adult Literacy and English as a Second Language program. While this was more of an administrative job, Marilyn never missed an opportunity to connect with a volunteer or student and help them along.

Marilyn loved everything to do with textiles. She learned sewing and weaving as a teenager, taught weaving at the North Bennet Street School in Boston during her college years, and taught sewing and knitting to her daughters and granddaughters. Throughout her life, Marilyn adapting sewing patterns to fit her well, and made almost all of her own clothing, plus clothing for her children and grandchildren. Every Christmas, she made each grandchild a pair of comfortable and fun pajamas, and she often knitted sweaters, hats, and mittens while sitting in meetings or in conversation with friends and family.

Marilyn put beautiful fabrics together to create special quilts for different family members. Marilyn was always on the lookout for a good fabric or yarn store, getting to know the staff and the owners as soon as she walked in, and nearly always emerging with a new project ready to go.

No telling of Marilyn's life would be complete without mentioning the many church congregations she joined and helped to shape, building community wherever she was. At University Lutheran Church in Cambridge MA, she met Bob and formed many of her deepest lifelong friendships, including a Bible Study group that met for many decades. Later, she and Bob were active members of Lutheran Church of the Savior in Bedford, First Lutheran Church in Waltham, Weston United Methodist Church, Church of Our Redeemer in Lexington, Trinity Covenant Church in Lexington, and finally Pilgrim Congregational Church in Lexington. In each congregation, Marilyn served in lay leadership, never compromising her core value of lifting up every human being. Outspoken in both praise and criticism, Marilyn was committed to learn and grow in her own Christian faith, always placing intellectual curiosity and honesty and inclusive community first. She was well educated in Christian history and theology, especially the early church, and shared that knowledge wherever she went. In every congregation she joined, Marilyn valued the community and friendships she found there. She was also proud of the spiritual paths of her three children, one Christian, one Buddhist and one Jewish, on which she would frequently remark to remind us that God values each person, and the path they choose.

Finally, Marilyn was both a gardener and a naturalist. She was as fascinated by the woods as others would be by a great museum. She taught her children to look carefully into streams, under rocks and logs, behind the peeling bark of dead trees and into the leaves on the ground for the hidden life to be found there. She and Bob took their family to mountaintops and badlands, the seashore and the prairies. Marilyn brought nature home to her garden, where she used the organic methods that were just emerging, to build the soil and turn her yard into a vibrant, blossoming, healthy ecosystem. Marilyn's love of nature and history also led her to serve on the Board of her beloved Walden Pond State Park, where she swam all summer, and worked with other board members, elected officials, and community members to maintain a balance between recreational uses, historical significance, and careful environmental stewardship, and to ensure its proper care into the future.

Although chair-bound in recent years, Marilyn's spirit was nourished every day by the beauty that she and Bob had created together in their yard in Lexington. She delighted in being surrounded by the trees, flowers, birds, and wildlife, and paid careful attention to what each bird liked to eat, what each plant needed to grow, and where a generous application of compost and earthworms were needed to make the soil thrive.

The Lund family deeply thanks the caregivers who helped Marilyn, Bob and all of us over many years, and the staff at Rivercrest in Concord and Care Dimensions Hospice, who supported Marilyn and our family with such kindness and respect during Marilyn's final days.

Everyone who loved Marilyn will miss her, and will carry a sense of gratitude that she lived a long life full of blessings, and for the way she was a blessing to the world and people around her. May she now rest in peace.