Marilyn Long

Our loving mother, grandmother, and great grandmother was reunited with her high school sweetheart and husband, Ralph Eldon Long, on September 24, 2020 in Morgan, Utah.

Marilyn was born on May 22, 1931 in Saint Louis, Missouri. She was the daughter of Wallace Kelly “WK” Martin and Sylvia Ann Krueger. Marilyn and her parents soon moved to Nauvoo, Illinois to live with her maternal grandmother Wilhelmina “Mini” Beger Krueger. She and her family lived in Nauvoo until they moved to Galesburg, Illinois for a short time when she was 10. After the start of World War II, they moved to Cedar Rapids, Iowa where she graduated from high school.

Marilyn and Ralph met in a high school class where the seating was in alphabetical order (L seats in front of M). Their first date was to the senior class picnic on her birthday in 1949. They graduated from Franklin High School in 1949. Following high school, they both enrolled at Iowa State Teachers College (now the University of Northern Iowa) in Cedar Falls, Iowa. She graduated with a teaching certificate in 1951. Following college, she taught in Decorah, Iowa for a short while.

Marilyn and Ralph were married on 1 December 1951 in Cedar Falls, Iowa. They began married life in Cheyenne, Wyoming where Ralph was stationed at F.E. Warren air force base and Marilyn taught kindergarten. They returned to Cedar Falls in 1953 so that Ralph could complete his bachelor’s degree at Iowa State Teachers College. Following his graduation, they embarked on a series of moves that would take them from Iowa to Indiana, to Minneapolis, to Logan, Utah, back Minneapolis, then on to Web Lake, Wisconsin, and finally to Green Valley, Arizona. They made many lifelong friends along the way. They also took many trips around the world where they also made many new friends. Their family grew to include one daughter and four sons.

She loved living in Cache Valley and would spend many weekends with her husband and children camping in the nearby mountains at Sunrise campground or swimming in Bear Lake. While living in Logan, Marilyn was able to finish her bachelor’s degree in elementary education at Utah State University. She would joke with her children that she wanted to complete her degree before they started college. She graduated and became an Aggie with four months to spare in May 1972.

Marilyn continued living in Green Valley, Arizona following Ralph’s death in July 2015. In May 2019 she moved to Morgan, Utah to be near her oldest son and his family. She resided at Family Tree Assisted Living Center in Morgan where she would continue to make new friends. She loved spending time with her many great grandchildren at family gatherings or when they came to visit her. The younger children would tell her that it was so awesome that she could live in a “resort.”

Marilyn is survived by her sister, Carole Ruth Svoboda of Toledo, Iowa; her children Robert, Rodney, Richard, Elizabeth, and Matthew and their spouses; 14 grandchildren; and 25 great grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents, husband, and one great granddaughter.

We wish to thank the wonderful staff at Family Tree for their loving care of our mother over the past 16 months.