Obituary of Marilyn R. Henry

Marilyn was born in Kankakee Illinois to Ruth and Ray Sewell, her sister Barbara was waiting for her with open arms, later her brother Steve joined the family 16 years later.  When Marilyn was young, the family moved to California.  Marilyn attended school in California and made lifelong friends. During those times at her high school alma mater Irvington High School, she met the love of her life Jim.  They were married December 14^th 1968 and were married till Jim’s passing in July 2015.  Marilyn was blessed with one daughter Lisa; Marilyn always joked that Lisa was enough so why have any more.  Marilyn was a stay-at-home mom til Lisa was school age, she worked at our local bowling alley in California doing the books.  Then one day Jim and Marilyn decided to move to Idaho to be closer to family.  This is where mom began her career at Xpedx she worked there for 25 years and retired to spend time with Jim, needless to say Jim passed 30 days after her retirement.  Marilyn’s daughter and son in law Bill didn’t want to see her have to leave her home that her and Jim had built so they sold their home in Meridian and bought the home from Marilyn and added 600 square feet for her mother-in-law quarters so she could reside with her family till her passing.  She especially loved the patio where she could drink her coffee in the morning and have good cocktail in the afternoon, and that’s how the patio became the party pad.

Marilyn’s life has always been exciting.  She loved to sew, that was her main passion. She loved bowling and the black powder club they belonged too.  Once her daughter married Bill her life experiences grew even more.  These California kids got to experience what Idaho has to offer.  Marilyn helped field dress a deer, watched as the family brought into hunting camp elk, deer, turkeys, cougar and bears.  She was always right there to watch the game be processed and hear the story that went along with it, always with a cocktail in hand.    Marilyn loved traveling to California once she retired, Joyce and Gary Williams always loved having her.  Another adventure was the race track. She was Allen Motorsports and Brent Collins Racing’s biggest fans. She worked in the pits, always had cool swag sewn up for us and when weren’t racing she was in the North End drinking beer with her favorite North End (Animals) Family and you all know who you are. She also started golfing and loved it! Marilyn always had a love for golf but Jim never had the patience to teach her, so when Bill retired, he promised to teach her and Lisa to golf, we had many adventures playing different courses and she even joined a ladies golf league but said they were too old for her, so she hacked up the course with her family.  Marilyn was always willing to give her time in our many volunteer opportunity activities that we needed her for.  From Meridian Fire Salmon BBQs to Chili Cook Offs to cooking Eggs at the Meridian Dairy Days Pancake feed, she loved that she could support her family, no matter how crazy it was.  Marilyn was always everyone’s biggest cheerleader.

In 2007 Marilyn was diagnosed with Breast Cancer.  She fought like a champ and won that battle, being cancer free in 2012.  Fast forward to 2022, Marilyn had just got back from a cross country trip with her friend Barb, moving her from Idaho to Virginia.  What a trip of a life time, not knowing what was in store.  Marilyn got home and just felt like she was coming down with a cold, thinking that traveling across the United States that one would have jet lag.  By September she wasn’t getting better and decided it was time to go to the doctor.  Doctors thought she had pneumonia and sent her home with meds.  Two weeks later she was worse, her granddaughter took her to the ER for evaluation.  10 days later we were all handed the devastating news that Marilyn had Stage 4 lung cancer.  We were all so shocked.  They told us upfront that it was treatable not curable.  In Marilyn’s can-do attitude she said we will fight till we can’t fight anymore.

 Chemo was very hard on her and she never really came back to the Marilyn we all knew and loved. She fought the good fight for 8 months til her body said no more. Marilyn passed peacefully at her home with her family by her side.  Her fear was she would have to go to an extended care facility and Lisa and Bill committed to keeping her home and comfortable to give her the love and compassion from her family that she needed during this time.

The family would like to extend their thanks to Kayln with Idaho Home Health & Hospice, even though she was only with us for 7 days, she made those 7 days the best for mom and us.  You will forever be a part of our family for what you did for her.

Marilyn is proceeded in death by her parents and her sister and numerous aunts, uncles and cousins.

Marilyn will get to see all her fur babies when she gets to heaven, especially her Gracie girl she lost last year.

She is survived by her brother Steve and his family.

Her daughter Lisa and son in law Bill Allen and their kids

Granddaughters Ashley (Brent) Collins and Jennifer Allen

Grandsons Matt (Randi) Allen and Kodi (Ashley) Newberry

3 Great Granddaughters Aubrey, Charlie and Riley

She is also survived by her brother from another mother Chuck Toth from Valley Center, California

Doc, Brando and Mittens will miss grandmas loves too

We will miss you mom, mamason, sister, grandma, gram gram and GG