Marilyn Jean Cody

Marilyn was born May 9, 1928, in Lewis, Kansas, to Carl and Marguerite Nelson. She had an older brother, Allen. Carl was mayor of Lewis, and owned a hardware store. When she was 12, they all moved to Long Beach, where Carl took a position with McDonnell Douglas. They lived in Bixby Knolls for a bit, then moved to Prospect Avenue, where Marilyn went to and graduated at Wilson High School. While there, she met Loren Foster, and they married just before he went to fly helicopters in Korea.

Marilyn lived for a while in Japan when Loren got demobilized, and then they moved to Fort Hood, Texas, where I was born in 1952. They soon moved to Arlington, Virginia, where my brother Keith was born in 1954. About 1957, we all moved to Splinter Village at Fort Rucker, Alabama, where my brother Ron was born in 1959. In 1960, we all moved to Warner Kaserne army housing in Munich, Germany.

In 1962, Grandpa Nelson had a stroke, and Mom and us three boys moved back to Long Beach to live with Grandma Marguerite. Marilyn and Loren divorced about 1964.  She went to work at Lakewood Village Community Church as the secretary, where she continued until she met and married Frank Cody. They moved to Corona, CA after 1977, and were making progress on remodeling his house until he died in 1983.

Mom returned to Grandma's house on Fidler Avenue, bought her first car at the age of 58, and began working at the Cal State University Chancellor's office in downtown Long Beach. Grandma died at home in 1991, and Mom inherited the house where she lived until 2016. She retired at the age of 71 in 1999.

Failing health led to her moving to Rowntree Gardens in Stanton, CA in October of 2016, where she stayed until the end of her days on June 8, 2019.

She is survived by her three sons, Mike, Keith, and Ron; by Mike's daughter, Sian; by Keith's wife Sue, and their three kids, Will, Heather, and Brenton; Will's wife Lexie and their daughter, Beatrix; and Ron's wife, Charlene.

Luyben Dilday Mortuary (562) 425-6401