MARILYN JOY GLANTON
1926-2019
Marilyn Joy Glanton passed away on October 7, 2019 in Houston, TX after 93 years of a fun-loving adventure filled life. She came into the world on the coat tails of a late season Michigan blizzard on April Fool’s day, 1926. She was the youngest of four in the family of Juanita Cuvrell Blackford and George Blackford. When Marilyn was six years old the family moved from the big city of Flint to the small town of Flushing a few miles away. There she grew up on a farm and attended Warner School, a small two room country school that was about a mile’s walk from her home. After completing high school in Flushing, Marilyn went on to Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant, where she received a degree in Physical Education. Early on Marilyn worked as a lifeguard at the Flint city pool, then a telephone switchboard operator, and after college as a publicschool PE teacher. Then she happened to meet a fellow named Gene Wade Glanton on a blind double date in 1946 and Gene and Marilyn eloped on April 5, 1947. They remained together and married for the next 63 years.
When they first met Gene had just been discharged from the Navy and was in the process of starting school at Michigan State. Their first child, Ted, was born in January 1948 while Gene was still in school. When Gene finished his degree in 1952 the family moved to Boston for job training. Their next trip was to New York to board the steamer “African Enterprise” heading for Cape Town South Africa. They were on their way with Gene’s first job on a three-year contract working for the Standard Vacuum oil company. Their lives became working, golfing, and traveling about Africa. Three years later they moved to Indonesia where their daughter, Gigi, was born in 1955. From that point forward the family was a foursome and for the next twenty-five years Gene worked, and they golfed and traveled about Indonesia, Asia, and Europe. After a move back to the New York office in 1959 for a short period they then moved to Malaysia, and then on to Singapore. Their last assignment abroad was Japan and then they came back to the states for the remainder of their lives together.
In South Africa Marilyn taught improved nutrition and health skills in the infamous Soweto slums and surrounding shantytowns with a local women’s group. She taught sewing to the local Indonesian women of Sumatra, and she taught English to the Japanese in the community where she was living. However, her real passion was golf and she played the game well into her eighties. She was a member of the Palembang Golf Club in Sumatra Indonesia, the Royal Selangor Club in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia, and finally the Braeburn Country Club in Houston Texas, where she held a membership for close to 40 years. She was a great golfer and enjoyed both the exercise and the many lasting friendships that came with her play.
Marilyn is survived by her brother Dick Blackford and his wife Margie, her son Ted Glanton and wife Theresa Goodwin along with their two children, son Will Glanton and daughter Anna Glanton and her husband Jeremy Madden. She is also survived by her daughter
Gigi Cole and husband Gregg Cole and their daughters Andrianna Cole, and Brittany Sumner and husband Shane Sumner and their two children Sadie and Scarlett. Marilyn was preceded in death by her husband Gene, her granddaughter Kalynn Cole, brother Phil Blackford, and sister Marcia Irwin.
The family wishes to express their gratitude to the many who assisted her in the last few years for the kindness they extended. At her request the services will be private for she felt life was not to burden one with sorrow. So, lift your hearts and instead savor good times with good friends and remember her as she wanted all of us to; laughing, golfing, smiling, and mostly being happy.
The family has requested that in lieu of flowers, gifts may be made to the Kalynn E. Cole Scholarship at UNLV. Checks may be made out to: UNLV Foundation, memo: Kalynn E. Cole IMO in the name of Marilyn Glanton; mail to: UNLV Foundation, Box 451006, 4505 S. Maryland Pkwy., Las Vegas, NV 89154-1006. Online gifts may be made at: https:// netcommunity.unlv.edu/ givetotribute. Select “Kalynn E. Cole Scholarship” in the drop-down menu.