Marilyn Ann Varley joined her family of heavenly saints early on Tuesday, October 8, 2024. She kept her mind and will to the end and like the old soldier of song, she simply faded away. Celebration of Life Visitation will be held from 4-5:30 P.M. on Monday, November 25th at the Johnson Family Funeral Home in Stuart. A celebration of life service will begin at 5:30 P.M. Services will be live-streamed on our Facebook Page (www.facebook.com/johnsonfamilyfh). Online condolences may be left at www.johnsonfamilyfuneralhome.com.
Marilyn was born April 5, 1935, in Calhoun County, Iowa, to Carl & Frieda (Gollwitzer) Saucke. At age 9, she contracted rheumatic fever, scarlet fever and whooping cough. Her mother, who had already lost a daughter to illness prior to age 6, took Marilyn to Tucson, AZ for two successive winters because the doctor told her that little girl would not survive another Iowa winter. That experience broadened her point of view—she would quote Mark Twain, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness.”
She took that advice and independence to a new level during the summer between her junior and senior year at Iowa State College, when she bicycled across Europe with a group of fellow college young women. It was an opportunity to meet her German relatives, and no one ever met Marilyn and left a stranger—she found something out about everyone she met and had an uncanny ability to remember people. In 1957, she earned her B.S. in Home Economics. After that she bled cardinal and gold for the Cyclones.
One of the people she met while in college at Ames was Andrew Varley, whom she married on August 23, 1959 at St. Peter Evangelical Lutheran in Farnhamville, Iowa. Prior to marriage, she had gained job experience at Merrill Palmer Institute in Detroit, MI; Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD; and as a nursery school teacher in Athens, GA, where she was not afraid to confront racial bigotry.
Marilyn & Andrew returned to his family farm after his father died at the age of 48. Marilyn had intended not to marry a farmer, but “nothing happens by accident,” she would say. She grew to love the farm and raised 4 sons there (though she didn't want anyone to know that she was a child development major in college because they were said to have the worst-behaved children), along with a bountiful garden. She was very proud of achieving Master Gardener status in two states: Ohio (Franklin County) and Iowa (Dallas & Madison Counties).
“Behind every great man, there's a great woman!” Andrew Varley would not have become Speaker of the Iowa House or Chair of the Iowa Commerce Commission (later Utilities Board) without Marilyn. She was president of the Adair County Republican Women long before he entered politics. However, she considered her peak success to be the Adair County Republican Women's Cookbook, which is not surprising because she was a culinary master.
She served and led in her community and church, with her involvement in the Lutheran Women's Missionary League (becoming president at various levels), her garden clubs, and service to her community.
In addition to her passions of faith, horticulture, cooking and politics, Marilyn had a stint as a journalist, writing a weekly column for the Adair County Free Press for nearly a decade. That career was cut short when she and Andy and their youngest son, Curtis, moved to Columbus OH for an 11-year hiatus from Iowa. Marilyn continued to love travel and share stories of her trips to China, Russia, Peru, Germany, England, and anywhere, foreign or domestic, where she could tour a garden or forest. “Travel while you're young” she used to say; which became, “Travel while you still can!”
She is survived by her sons Warren (Karen), Tom (Gina), John (Laurie), & Curtis (Catharine); eleven grandchildren: Ben Varley of Yigo, Guam; Gwen Varley of Uppsala, Sweden; Lena Varley of Phoenix, AZ; Millie (Elston Tortuga) Varley of Stuart, IA; Dani (Kyle) Orris of Ames, IA; Bethany (Mike) Treffert of Plover, WI; Morgan (Ryan) Mable of Leander, TX; Colin (Jessica Brklich) Varley of West Des Moines, IA; Nathan Varley of Mankato, MN; Catarina & Annabella Varley of San Antonio, TX; and three great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her husband in 2018, her sister Ruth Elaine Saucke, her parents, and her brothers & their spouses: Lawrence (Maxine) Saucke and Donald (Lois) Saucke.
Memorials may be made to the Iowa Aviation Museum (in honor of her brothers' contributions to early aviation in Iowa and during WWII), the Iowa Arboretum, and Lutheran Services in Iowa.
To send flowers in memory of Marilyn Ann Varley, visit the Tribute Store.
25
Nov
123 N.E. 2nd St
Stuart,, IA 50250
25
Nov
Johnson Family Funeral Home & Cremation Services
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