Marilyn Woolley

Click Here to View Tribute Video

Marilyn Ethington Woolley "With a Song in Her Heart"

Beloved family matriarch, grandmother, mother and sister has passed this winter day, 7 January, 2013. Like a lark ascending, this beautiful woman''s song awakens us. It resonates with tones of creation''s first morning. It summons all of us, through ages of trying, ages of refining, daring us to give full voice, of our love and thanksgiving for her life in story, her life in doing, and for her life in being, ever new... resonant and heard once... again and again, no less than Creation''s morning song.

Born to Martin Luther and Ilda Holmes Ethington, on the morning of 28 July, 1926, in San Diego, California, her life of 86 years was shared with everyone that she met, with an inquisitive, engaging and caring sweet spirit. Marilyn was always concerned about an individual''s well being, and supportive of their personal interests. She was the "wind beneath their wings" with a kind word, or deed.

The eldest of the four children, Marilyn nurtured her younger brother and sisters. With the ailing and troubling health of her parents, she became responsible for her younger sisters, and raised her youngest sister, Nancy Kaye, from an early age. Full of wit, stories, and rhymes, told in many dialects that she had learned from her mother, she always made them laugh and learn the "language of love". The song in her heart was truly a gift that bound her family together.

Marcus Keith Woolley, "Now there''s a Good Man", her father had said, became her beloved companion on the 15th of September, 1944. Those two lives, in partnership for sixty four years, encompassed all their accomplishments, individually and together. As helpmates to one another, they engaged in raising live stock, gardening, large scale bee keeping, railroading, agricultural business and property management. Marilyn was sixteen when Keith asked for her hand, and later married when she turned eighteen. He insisted that she learn how to drive. Drive, she did. She took him everywhere, and was very please that that included a 2- ton truck. Wedding Cakes were a specialty business that she engaged in on her own.

At the early age of nineteen, Marilyn took on the responsibilities of her failing parents, and the starting of her young family. She was a loving mother, who encouraged the best from her children. Always fair, she was a patient and supportive teacher. Marilyn''s love of adventure gave every activity a creative twist with a good dose of invention. She helped her children build train sets and villages, floating rafts extraordinaire, and go-carts stealing Nascar dreams. Annual Farmington Parades were showcases for her floats and costumed children aboard. A talented seamstress, she enjoyed making clothes for her children, including ball gowns and wedding dresses. Marilyn enjoyed playing with her children, was accepting of them and their friends. Her zest for life enriched those that she touched, large and small.

Marilyn was actively engaged in the LDS Church community. She served as Primary and Relief Society President, as well as a Stake Missionary (with her husband, Keith), leading tours from Cherry Hill Camp Ground to Temple Square to see the Tabernacle Choir. In their latter years, the two of them served together in the Bountiful Temple weekly.

A true matriarch of a beautiful family, Marilyn is survived by her brother, Martin L. Ethington (Marilyn Ethington), Pleasant Grove; sister, Nancy Kaye Ethington, Salt Lake City; Children: Karen Bennett (Richard Bennett), Woods Cross; and Lynette Shupe (Rex Shupe), Kaysville; daughters-in-law Estelle Woolley Stam (Jerry Stam), Elwood; and Premy Woolley Pearson (Brett Pearson), Kaysville; sixteen grandchildren and fifteen great grandchildren. Preceded in passing by her husband, Marcus Keith Woolley and her sons, Marcus (Marc) Keith Woolley (Estelle) and Wayne Ford Woolley (Premy).

A funeral service in celebration of Marilyn''s life, will be held Friday, 11 January, 2013 at 11:00 A.M. Friends and family may attend a viewing Thursday, 10, January, 2013, 6-8 P.M. or Friday 10-10:45 A.M. prior to services at the Farmington Rock Chapel, 272 North Main. Interment Farmington City Cemetery.