Marilyn E. Wilbert

MILLERSBURG - Marilyn Elaine (White) Wilbert, age 88, of Millersburg, Pennsylvania died March 25, 2024, at Heritage Mills Personal Care.
She was born at home on October 26, 1935, in Casa Blanca, Riverside, CA, to the late Levi Reel and Mary (Christensen) White. She was the youngest of four children born to her parents. She had two sisters, Lola and Betty Jane, and one brother, Marinus Lee R.
At the time of her birth, her father worked at a cement plant and her mother packed citrus fruits and walnuts at a plant near their home. They had a small house, garage, and lot right across the street from the railroad tracks where the fruits were shipped. Her father tended orange, lemon, and avocado trees and a grape arbor in the back yard. A short walk across the tracks lived her father's sister Melvina-Marilyn's aunt-with her husband and grandson. They had many good times visiting with "Aunt Vinnie," "Uncle Manuel," and "Jay Dee." Marilyn grew up in this family environment and had a very happy childhood. She was a good all-round student who participated in 4-H and had lots of friends. Her 9th-grade yearbook listed her favorite expression as "Piddle" and her ambition as "To have fun."
One of Marilyn's favorite fun things to do was roller skate, and she often visited the local skating rink with her friends. One fortuitous day in 1951, an attractive young airman from March Field, named Bill Wilbert, skated right into her path and they literally "fell" for each other on the spot. After a whirlwind courtship, they were married on June 14, 1952, in Marilyn's family home on Railroad Avenue, beginning their life together in a small apartment in Arlington.
It was the first of many moves. Bill's 22-year Air Force career took him around the world and he was often able to take his family with him. Through it all, Marilyn was his trusty co-pilot and kept the home fires burning bright when they had to be apart. In the first 19 years of their marriage, Bill and Marilyn moved their family 22 times.
They had begun that family quickly after their marriage. Joy was born in 1952, Ken in 1954, and Jan in 1956, all in Riverside, somehow conveniently arriving between assignments to Utah and Idaho. In 1959, Steve joined the family when Bill was stationed at Columbus, Ohio, and Sherry came along in Reno, Nevada, in 1961. Dawna Jeanne was the final addition to the family in 1962 in Reno, but she wasn't destined to stay long, just four short hours.
Marilyn's parents raised their family in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, so Marilyn had been a church member all her life. Bill was baptized in 1958 and ordained an Elder in 1965, but it wasn't until shortly after their 50th wedding anniversary, on November 2, 2002, that they were endowed and sealed in the Washington, D.C., Temple for time and all eternity. It was a joyous day on both sides of the veil.
Through the years, Marilyn kept her pledge "to have fun." She was an effervescent catalyst for good times, making them happen wherever she went. She enjoyed just about every kind of needlework and handicraft you can think of. She was an unschooled, but talented, painter. She decorated cakes and was an excellent baker and cook. She loved to square dance, travel, and celebrate holidays. The outdoors enchanted her-she enjoyed hunting, fishing, swimming, camping, birding, and hiking. She was an expert at s'mores! She exposed her husband and children to every good activity and opportunity and they all grew up together in a happy, learning environment. She was also a hard worker. After Bill retired from the Air Force, she worked in the Nevada Mental Health Institute and Washington State Department of Social and Health Services and attended night school at Spokane Community College to earn her GED. She taught her children by example that learning is a worthwhile and lifelong pursuit.
Marilyn was the link that tied the family together in more than one way. She was truly the center of her mortal family, but also among her varied interests and activities, perhaps her first love, was genealogy, to which she devoted much time, energy, and travel. She was involved heavily with the Enders Association as she traced Bill's family tree in Pennsylvania. Many are they whose names have been on the temple rolls because Marilyn cared and made sure they were counted. Those ancestors beyond the veil will no doubt be watching for her to pass through the portals of Heaven, wanting to be among the first to greet and thank her for making their progression possible.
Her life was devoted to her family and was a gift of great proportion to those of us blessed to know and love her.
She was preceded in death by Bill, her husband of 67 years, who passed through the veil on January 17, 2020.
She was also preceded in death by her siblings, Lola White Hudson Davis, Betty Jane Cripps Ponder, and Marinus Lee R. White; daughter Dawna Jeanne Wilbert, and granddaughter Tierra Brelaine Wilbert.
Surviving are her five children: Joy (Robert) Erskine of Thonotosassa, FL; Kenneth (Michelle Chapman) of Pagosa Springs, CO; Janice (Wade) Stellon of Reno, NV; Steven, also of Reno; and Sherry (Kim) Hoy, of Millersburg, PA; 8 grandchildren, 9 great-grandchildren, and two great-great-grandchildren.
Marilyn would be the first to tell us to work hard, be honest, be happy, and HAVE FUN. Life is short, and eternity is forever!
The family will receive friends on Friday, March 29, 2024 at Minnich Funeral Home., Inc, 1238 West Market Street, Williamstown, PA 17098 from 12:30- 1:30 PM. Services will begin at 1:30 with burial to follow at Halifax Community Church Cemetery, Halifax.
Arrangements are being cared for by the staff of Minnich Funeral. We are honored to serve this family at our Hoover-Boyer Funeral Home, Ltd., Elizabethville location. To sign the guestbook go to www.minnichfuneral.com.