Marilyn Crabtree

Marilyn R. Crabtree, 93, of Medina, passed away peacefully surrounded by her family at the Medina Hospital on Friday, January 7, 2022. She finally succumbed to a condition affecting her breathing that she had been battling courageously for many years.

Marilyn is survived by her loving husband, Walden B. Crabtree; sons, Stephen, Geoffrey and Walden; daughters, Monica, Michelle, Moira, Mona and Marilyn; 16 grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; sisters, Dolores and Suzanne and five nieces and nephews.

She was a force of nature and an inspiration to all she met. Marilyn was intelligent, athletic, determined, artistic and talented at everything she turned her hand to: painting, tennis, gardening, home remodeling, and more. She loved books, art, square dancing, bridge, hiking, and her many friends.

Marilyn graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at a time when fewer than 10 percent of women attended university. After college, she worked as an illustrator before marrying and becoming a homemaker, but she continued to paint for most of her life. After being diagnosed with bullous emphysema at 75, she doggedly continued to square dance and play tennis several times a week with a portable tank of oxygen strapped to her waist until she was 85. She was vivacious and warm, and people loved to be around her. Friends said: 'From the minute I met her, I felt like I'd known her forever.'

Her last days were blessed: Her husband told her how much he loved her; she was 'my beautiful, talented wife, my life, my heart, my soul, my everything.' She told him how much she loved him. Her children and grandchildren each told her how much they loved her and she told them the same. She said, 'I feel so warm, so loved; I could just burst.' We were with her until the end.

As per the wishes of Marilyn, there will be no public service.