Marilyn Manthey

Marilyn Alice Goodman Manthey , b- April 8, 1928 Chicago Heights, IL, d- July 1, 2015 Lancaster, CA Born at the tail end of the Roaring Twenties into a working family in Chicago Hts. IL., Marilyn was suddenly plunged, along with her family, into Hard Times in 1932 when factories failed and mortgages foreclosed. She spent her pre-school and elementary years living with her mother, Frances, father, James (Jimmy), and younger brother, Donald, first in the back of a gas station on the Lincoln Highway out on the prairie, a palce with a hand water pump and an outhouse she hated, and then surving in town jammed in with too many aunts and uncles and younger cousins in the homes of two sets of grandparents. By the late 1930s the country was rising out of the Depression, Jimmy was learning the construction business with Gordon Lumber Co., and Marilyn was entering high school. Growing up, Marilyn had, within 2 city blocks, four grandparents, eight uncles and aunts, and five younger cousins. In spite of the earlier crowding, Marilyn was devoted to family all her life. A leader of his own dance band in the 1930s, her father loved the saxophone and inspired Marilyn to play. She played sax in the band through high school and also enjoyed the harmony of church hymns and the sing-alongs at summer band concerts. Marilyn was a pretty and popular honor student, went to dances and parties, and had many friends. From age 13 through 18 she worked at Gordon Lumber Co. with her father, and after graduating she worked as a typist at Victor Chemical in the Board of Trade Building in Chicago; she and her co-workers would sometimes thrill to a Chicago stage show, dinner, or movie in the Loop. She married George Manthey on July 15, 1952 at the First Christian Church in Chicago Heights, where they met, and where her parents had married 26 years before. The next day they packed their 1950 two-door Chevy Coupe, bought with a loan from George's parents, and set off for California, where George was stationed at the North Island Naval Air Station in San Diego as an electronics technician. In 1954 George received orders to the Naval Air Facility in Oppoma, Japan, and they packed up for Yokohama, where Marilyn took classes in flower arranging and Japanese language, and cared for their two young daughters, Melinda and Karen. They moved again when George was reassigned to South Weymouth, MA, where George taught Marilyn the essential skill of driving a car. In 1958 George and Marilyn decided that civilian life would be a positive new path; George began his career with FAA, and he and Marilyn and the girls moved to Phoenix, AZ, and then to Lancaster, CA. For 62 years Marilyn and George built a life together based on family, faith, work, and the church community. Marilyn and George were a good team, descibed by a close friend as yin and yang together; as a couple they were'nt the same, but when you put them together, the whole was greater than the sum of th eparts. Marilyn was devoted to God, to George, to her faith, her church, and her family. She had strong beliefs about right and wrong, but exhibited a generosity of grace. She cared deeply about others and led a life of service to make the world a better place. Dedicateed to her church and faith, she served as a Deacon, and Chairperson of the Deacons, Elder, Church Clerk, Financial Secretary, Chairperson of Local Outreach, and led studies for the Christian Women's Fellowship. She was active in Church Women United, and involved in the creeation of the Agape Church Women United, which operated the Agape Recovery Home to help women aloholics. She and George were both chosen Elder Emeritus, the only couple to have both been so honored. Cherished as loving sister, devoted wife, nuturing mother, grandmother, great grandmother, generous friend and mentor, shhe will live forever in our hearts. Marilyn was born to James (Jimmy) Goodman and Frances (Dolly) Smith Goodman; Graduated from Bloom Township High School in 1946. Married George W. Manthey July 15, 1952. Marilyn is survived by her brother, Donald Goodman (Betty), daughters, Karen Manthey and Melinda Currado