Marilyn Catterall Goeltz

Marilyn Catterall Goeltz of Cumming, GA died peacefully at home on July 13, 2016, surrounded by her loving family. She lived a rich and full life, taking great pleasure in caring for her family and others.

Marilyn was born in Seattle on July 22, 1930, and moved to Honolulu with her family after the death of her father. Growing up in Hawaii shaped Marilyn into a sun-worshipping beach lover, peppering her language with Hawaiian words and enjoying its exotic fruits and flowers.  In 1949, she met her husband-to-be, Norman Jacob Goeltz, Jr., at the U of Hawaii at a pie-eating contest and followed him to the U of Missouri where they eloped on January 13, 1951. Their great love story of happiness, respect, devotion and companionship would ultimately last for sixty-five and a half years to the day.

Marilyn had a sense of delight that was infectious; she openly noticed the small wonders in life and caused others to do the same. She was a glass-half-full person, greeting each day with gusto and a can-do attitude, and she carried with her the passion to live life to its fullest.

Independent, creative, resourceful, capable and determined, Marilyn faced life’s changes with pleasure. As her husband’s career demanded, she moved her family frequently and created a strong sense of home easily. Casual and versatile, she organized family camping, ran Girl Scout troops, played tennis and bridge, sewed prom gowns, arranged weddings and receptions, traveled the world, and built her dream house with her husband. Over the years, she was an avid volunteer at her church and local schools, with Meals on Wheels, and with the American Cancer Society.

Cherishing her husband, children and grandchildren who were the center of her world, she still found time to make a tremendous difference in the quality of other lives she touched. Marilyn never met a stranger, and had an innate rapport with every child she met. She was the honorary mother and grandmother to hundreds, who knew her as The Little Mother or Nana. She held small hands gently, trained young feet to choose the high road, and encouraged youthful minds with words of wisdom, strength and confidence.

The Little Mother was our rock in good times and bad; her loss leaves an unfillable void in our lives. She is predeceased by her two sisters, Rosalie Perry and Charlotte Lowe; her sister-in-law, Sybil McKennon; and her beloved son, Norman Jacob Goeltz, III (Skip), who died in 1992, also on July 13. Marilyn is survived by her loving husband, Norm; her sister-in-law, Helen Brown; her daughters Christine Godbey, Melissa Roehm (Scot), Katherine Hardin, and Cynthia DeBold (Conrad); her three granddaughters Katherine Hardin Klang (Tyler), Sarah Roehm, and Elizabeth Hardin; her great grandson Jacob; and many nieces and nephews.

Funeral Services will be held ?on Saturday, July 16, 2016 at 10:30 AM at the Episcopal Church of the Holy Spirit, Cumming, GA. The family will receive friends at a reception following the service, and interment will follow at Sawnee View Memorial Gardens. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in Marilyn's name to the Parkinson Foundation (?www.parkinson.org).

Condolences may be expressed at www.mcdonaldandson.com.

Arrangements by McDonald and Son Funeral Home, 150 Sawnee Drive, Cumming, GA  30040   (770) 886.9899