Marilyn Will
WILL, MOELLER, FROMM
Posted By: Sarah Fletcher (email)
Date: 5/26/2020 at 09:08:56
Marilyn Will, 84, of Coralville, died peacefully Friday, May 15, 2020 at her home, following a long, determined struggle against COPD. At her bedside were her son, dear friends, and supportive home care aides.
Born in Minneapolis September 20, 1935 to Hubert and Velma (Fromm) Moeller, Marilyn grew up in Waterloo, Alden, and Iowa Falls and graduated from high school in Radcliffe in 1953.
After one year at Iowa State, she transferred to Iowa State Teachers College (now the University of Northern Iowa), where she received her B.A. in 1957. She taught four years at Manchester High School before returning to the classroom as a student, this time receiving her M.A. in business education from the University of Iowa. She then moved to Webster City, where she taught for five years at what would become the Iowa Central Community College.
During her studies at Iowa, Marilyn met Willard Wilson Will Jr. of Marysville, California, and the two wed June 25, 1967 in Pocahontas. Marilyn then followed Willard back to California and settled in Fremont, in the San Francisco Bay Area. She taught typing, shorthand, office management, and other subjects for 30 years at the Adult School in the neighboring Hayward Unified School District.
Their son, Willard Wilson Will III, was born in 1975, and Marilyn eagerly embraced the role of mother. In addition to shuttling Wilson to countless clarinet and piano lessons, she introduced him to cooking, gardening, home repair, chemistry, banking and finance, European history, and British comedy.
Despite numerous childhood and adult illnesses, including measles, breast cancer, and osteoporosis, Marilyn led an active life with subtle but sturdy determination. In California, she served as deacon at Centerville Presbyterian Church and secretary of the Moreau Catholic High School band parents’ board. She and Wilson also returned to Iowa each summer to visit her parents in Palmer and relatives throughout the Midwest. Family vacations took her throughout the U.S. and to Canada, Mexico, Iceland, the U.K., France, Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, and Israel. Books and journals filled her home and her mind; in addition to her love of the works of Charles Dickens, she enjoyed The Economist, National Geographic, and The New York Times.
In 2000, she and Willard returned to Iowa, this time to live in Coralville. Sadly, she and Willard divorced in 2004, but Marilyn maintained a fulfilling life. She continued to support students, but this time much younger ones: she served as a kindergarten aide at Regina Catholic Education Center for three years and then as an aide for Head Start for seven, finally retiring from the classroom in 2010. In her free time, she enjoyed gardening, volunteering at the Iowa City Animal Care and Adoption Center, and being a member of the Daughters of the King women’s support group at Trinity Episcopal Church.
Marilyn was preceded in death by her parents. She is survived by her son, Willard Wilson Will III of Baltimore, Maryland and many beloved cousins, friends, and neighbors.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a gathering to celebrate her life will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers and plants, memorials may be directed to the Iowa City Animal Care and Adoption Center.
Lensing Funeral & Cremation Service
Johnson Obituaries maintained by Cindy Booth Maher.
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