Marilyn Florence (Brown) Stover

Marilyn Florence Brown Stover

October 19, 1936 - August 21, 2020

Marilyn Brown Stover passed away on August 21, 2020 after living with Parkinson’s disease for many years. She had the opportunity to see all of her children together before she passed as well as being attended to by the dedicated staff at Hill House. 

Marilyn was born October 19, 1936, in Syracuse, New York, the oldest daughter of Irene Ella Manning and Charles Lighthall Brown. She lived in upstate New York with her mother, younger brother Francis and her beloved grandmother, Florence Chapman Manning. After her biological parents divorced, Irene married Robert  “Bob” S. Marty, who became Daddy to Marilyn. As a navy mechanic, Bob’s work took the family (which now included another daughter, Donna) up and down the East Coast. As a child Marilyn lived in New York, Virginia, Florida, Panama and Maine.  Once Bob was transferred to the Brunswick Naval Air Station, the family moved to Bath, Maine, which Marilyn called home for the rest of her life. 

In Bath, Marilyn met her future husband, Elford A. ‘Brud’ Stover, Jr. She graduated from Morse High School in 1954. She worked as a telephone operator for a year, saving money to attend Lasell Junior College from which she earned an associate's degree in 1957. She lived in Boston and worked at Washington National Insurance Company. On December, 27, 1958 she and Brud were married before he fulfilled his commitment to the ROTC. 

In the next few years Brud and Marilyn lived in New Jersey and Illinois where their oldest 3 children (Lee, Susan, Timothy) were born. They returned to Bath in 1963 where their youngest  two children (Michael, Marianne) were born. In Maine they reconnected with childhood, high school and college friends with whom they would remain close for years to come.

Marilyn worked as a switchboard operator at the Bath Hospital and as a typist for Bowdoin students when her children were young. She also worked as a secretary for the Bath-Brunswick Mental Health Center. She worked as a travel agent at Wight’s Travel Agency in Bath which afforded her the opportunity to travel internationally.  

Marilyn was an accomplished gardener and no matter where she lived she managed to grow beautiful vegetables and flowers. The gardens at the house she and Brud built in West Bath were abundant and the perennials she planted in 1988 continue to flourish today.  Her cooking and baking were renowned. Marilyn renewed her love of piano after retirement and took lessons sometimes practicing for over 3 hours a day.  She and Brud were advocates for better treatment for the mentally ill and they started and ran a NAMI family support group in the Bath area for several years. 

Marilyn is predeceased by her husband, Brud, and her brother, Frances Brown. She survived by her sister, Donna Grady, (Jacksonville, FL) her children, Lee, (Portland, ME), Susan, (Yarmouth, ME), Timothy and wife Kathleen, (Rockville, MD), Michael and wife, Lois (Woolwich, ME) and Marianne (Virginia Beach, VA) as well as her grandchildren, Jack, Nate, Will, Meghan, and Andy. A half-brother and three half sisters survive her, as well as many beloved cousins and extended family, and a host of friends whom she has known since adolescence and childhood. 

In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation in her memory to the nonprofit which provides housing for the mentally ill,  Shalom House, online at www.shalomhouseinc.org/donate/ or via mail at Shalom House, 106 Gilman Street, Portland, ME 04102.

A service for Marilyn will be held in the fall.

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