Marilyn Strachan

Marilyn Lee Nelson, the daughter of Stanley and Gwendolyn (Anderson) Nelson, was born February 17, 1937 in Kenosha, Wisconsin.  In September of 1945, when Marilyn was in the 4th grade, she moved with her family to Humboldt, Iowa where she received her education.  Following her graduation from Humboldt High School in 1954, Marilyn attended MacMurray College in Jacksonville, Illinois.  At MacMurray, Marilyn majored in History and was known to her classmates as “Rex”.  She then took a job in Des Moines at the Anton-Hammond-Dunn Insurance Agency.  In June of 1958, she married Richard Strachan and the couple made their home in Des Moines while Rich attended Iowa State University.

The couple returned to Humboldt and the young family grew with the additions of Bronwyn Elizabeth in 1965, Richard “Kirk” in 1968, and Heather in 1978.  Marilyn stayed busy as a homemaker, raising her children.  Music was an important part of the household with Bronwyn’s interest in dance, Kirk as a gifted guitarist, and Heather sang and played handbells.  In 1979, Marilyn began working as a checker for Fareway Food Stores in Humboldt and in 1988; she began working at the Faith United Methodist Church as the custodian.  She retired in 2006, but during her years as custodian she learned to operate the sound system and continued in her retirement as the sound engineer for numerous weddings, funerals, and church services.

Her involvement in the Faith United Methodist Church actually began much earlier.  In 1972, she was hired to restart the handbell choir program with adults, then high school and junior high students.  In 1987, she started the 4-6th grade choir to get children involved in music ministry early on.  I was always important to her that anyone who wanted to ring and was willing to practice be given the chance to learn.  She touched many lives through her work with the young ringers, and brought many kids to music who would otherwise never have learned to play an instrument.  Marilyn also began assisting with the coordination of the Tree Walk in 1987 and headed that effort until the early 2000’s.

There were always cameras in the household thanks to her parents’ early interest.  Marilyn’s love of photography really blossomed in the late 1980’s and she passed that passion on to her daughter, Heather, and the two went on many photo walks and shoots together.  Marilyn also cherished the time she spent reading to her grandson, Will Williams and enjoyed Garrison Keillor’s “Lake Wobegon” stories.

Marilyn is survived by her children, Bronwyn Peterson of Humboldt, Kirk Strachan of Fort Dodge, and Heather Strachan of Humboldt; grandchildren, Zachary Peterson of Oklahoma City, OK, Jacob Peterson of Fort Dodge, Will Williams of Humboldt, and Casey Heiter of South Coffeeville, KS; and her sister, Barb Keck of Des Moines.  She was preceded in death by her parents.  The Mason-Lindhart Funeral Home of Humboldt is assisting the family and a memorial service is being planned for a later date.