Nov. 17, 1931 - Oct. 19, 2014
You can take a Californian out of California, but you can never take California out of her. So it is with Marilyn Coombs Oglo. Breech born on November 17th, 1931 as one of two twins in Oakland, California, Marilyn was raised by her mother Leona Walker Coombs a school teacher, and Mortimer P.W. Coombs, local banker. As a child, Marilyn enjoyed endless summer splaying baseball and other games with her twin Marjorie and four cousins in Northern California and witnessing exciting, witty, and often fierce political debates among the grown ups at the dining room table. As a teenager, Marilyn took an unforgettable road trip with her sister and Aunt Margaret back East to visit her family in Washington, DC. A few years after graduating as a Sigma Kappa sorority member with a history major from University California Berkeley in 1953, Marilyn serendipitously met her husband, Mike at a Yosemite National Park camp dance. Two years later, the young couple married and moved to! Pasadena for Mike’s career as a young lawyer. Gradually, Mike’s blossoming patent law career inspired the young family to embark on a reverse migration back East, landing them in Pittsburgh PA, Rochester NY, Tampa and later Orlando FL. Throughout these transitions, Marilyn focused her constant loving attention and efforts to support Mike and nurture their four children, while still managing to find time to become involved in charitable and other organizations including the YWCA outreach program, Girl Scouts, and the PTA. Upon meeting new friends in these communities of schools, churches, and neighborhoods, Marilyn never once failed to share her roots and love for all things California. She pursued her passion for nature at home as an avid gardener, and around the country as she and Mike treated the family to countless camping adventures in national and state parks across the country. As the family grew older, Marilyn went back to school to gain teaching credentials and landed several exciting professional opportunities in educational support at Seminole Community College and Rollins College. In 1989, Marilyn and Mike headed north for Mike’s career move to Newport NUWC to settle in Portsmouth RI. Here, Marilyn enjoyed getting to know New England (birthplace of her father), singing and bonding with choir members at Portsmouth United Methodist Church and most recently with the First Congregational Church in Bristol, learning and volunteering with the Portsmouth Garden Club, and serving over 1,100 hours as a Newport Hospital volunteer. With extreme devotion and passion, she together with Mike served as the ìOglo family mission control center, following the day-to-day journeys, challenges, and epiphanies of their four children and their families in Boston, Woodstock, VT, Tallahassee FL, and Fallon, Nevada. Together with Mike, she never missed an opportunity to jump into the car or hop on a plane and spend a day, week or even two supporting and enjoying the company of her children and their families. 2014 proved an intense year of transition and rebirth for Marilyn. Most recently, Marilyn returned from a three month long trek back West to bid farewell to her beloved twin sister who passed away in May and spend quality time at a week long family reunion in Fallon, Nevada. Her remarkable spirit, good humor, and well being let her fully immerse herself in the moment and take on rich experiences with her children and grand children, like taking a horse ride with a daughter, celebrating a grandsons high school graduation while helping the other prepare for college, working in a half-day photo shoot for a daughters advertising client, or introducing the wonders of nature to her Floridian family’s first travel adventure back West. As Mike reflects, over a course of their fifty-five years of marriage together, Marilyn’s last months, weeks, and even 24 hours were some of the most fun, fulfilling, and loving times. It is with great shock and heaviness that we bid farewell to Marilyn. We will all miss her terribly; yet take solace in knowing and feeling her spirit which continues to thrive in all of us who have had the privilege to be touched by her grace, unexpected wit, and relentless positivity. Marilyn is survived by her husband Michael F Oglo of Portsmouth, RI, her son William Michael Oglo and his wife Carla of Tallahassee FL, her daughters, Katherine Oglo Hinson and her husband Wayne of Woodstock, VT, Nancy Ann Oglo-Upham and her husband James, and Marianne Oglo-Herrnstadt and her husband Ori of Watertown, MA. She is also survived by her grandchildren, Nate Hinson, Bradley Hinson, Nicholas Oglo, Christopher Oglo, Lauren Oglo, Nika Herrnstadt, Lev Herrnstadt. She is preceded in death by her twin sister Marjorie George.