Marilyn Claire (Wass) DeLoach
Marilyn passed away on November 1, 2017 at Keystone Nursing Home. She was born July 9, 1926 in Leominster to L’Oretta (Lauzon) and Norman Wass. She attended Leominster schools and was a member of the last class of No. 6 Community School which was a one room school when they closed their doors in 1938. She graduated Leominster High School in 1947 and graduated Stephens Business School in Fitchburg. She joined the WAVES and served in the Navy from 1949 to 1951 during the Korean Conflict stationed at the Pentagon.
Marilyn married Finous DeLoach in 1950 in a naval wedding at the Naval Chapel in Washington, D.C. They traveled to several duty stations, as he was a career Navy man, living in Virginia, Maryland, and Hawaii. They divorced in 1963 and Marilyn settled in Arlington, Virginia and began a career at the Marshall and McLennan firm. Later she moved to Washington, D.C living adjacent to the Washington Cathedral.
She was gifted musically, being able to play the piano, organ, keyboard, harmonica, melodica, and autoharp. She shared these talents after her retirement as a volunteer to the National Park Service Department where she gave tours and entertained guests on the C. and O. Canal in Georgetown and at the Clara Barton house in Maryland. She played at several restaurants in the D.C. area. Most notably she entertained visitors who were waiting to take tours of the White House in the staging area. When she moved back to Leominster in 2009 she entertained residents at Sunrise and Manor on the Hill assisted living homes.
Marilyn enjoyed history especially the Civil War reading as many books as possible about that time. She visited every major battlefield of that War. She enjoyed reading about the first ladies and was a frequent visitor to museums in the D.C. area. She enjoyed hiking and birdwatching and could imitate almost any bird that was native to where she lived.
She is predeceased by her parents, ex-husband and many aunts and uncles.
Marilyn leaves her daughter, Nona Ojala and her husband Laurie (Butch) Ojala, her granddaughter, Jessica Charpentier, and great-grandson Jackson Smith and many cousins.
The family wished to thank Keystone Nursing Home, their aides, nurses and other staff for the tremendous care and kindness they have shown her. Also thank you to Compassus Hospice for the care and help they also extended to her and our family.
A funeral service for Marilyn will be held on Friday, November 10, 2017 at 11am in the Silas F. Richardson & Son Funeral Home 106 West St. Leominster. Burial with military honors will follow in Evergreen Cemetery, Leominster. A calling hour will precede the service from 10am -11am. In lieu of flowers please donate to Pilgrim Congregational Church Music Program at 26 West Street, Leominster, MA.
To send flowers
to the family or plant a tree
in memory of Marilyn C. (Wass) DeLoach, please visit our floral store.