Marian E. (Eberle) Athens

Marian E. Athens

Aged 98, died March 16, 2019, at her home in Appleton, Wisconsin. She was born on August 2, 1920, daughter of the late Harry and Hazel (Brown) Eberle. On December 23, 1944, she married William W. Athens. She received her B.S. in Music Education from Illinois State University and first taught in rural, one-room schools near Lincoln, Illinois. After moving to Wisconsin, she taught Music and Speech at the Outagamie County Normal School in Kaukauna and Elementary Vocal Music for the Neenah Joint School District. In 1981, Marian and her husband retired to their home on the Mill Pond in Manawa, Wisconsin, where she was active in civic affairs, including Manawa Woman’s Club, Library Board, Food Pantry, and Meals on Wheels. She returned to the Appleton area in 1995, where she directed the Daybreak Singers at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church and participated in several creative writing groups, ultimately publishing two volumes of her reminiscences, short stories, and poems.

Marian’s greatest happiness came from her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, all of whom loved her beyond measure. She is survived by her daughter, Cynthia Selig, Appleton, and her three sons, James (Mary), Keizer, Oregon; William (Brenda), Appleton; and Geoffrey (Pamela), Appleton. She is also survived by eleven grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

Marian was a member of Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, 3009 N. Meade Street, Appleton. Her funeral service will be held at the church March 29, 2019, at 11:30 am, with visitation hours beginning at 10 am. Pastor Kurt Hoffman will officiate. Interment will be at Highland Memorial Park Mausoleum.

She will be forever missed.

Afterglow

I’d like the memory of me to be a happy one.
I’d like to leave an afterglow of smiles when life is done.
I’d like to leave an echo whispering softly down the ways,
Of happy times and laughing times and bright and sunny days.
I’d like the tears of those who grieve, to dry before the sun;
Of happy memories that I leave when life is done.

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