Marilyn Anne Craft, 74

Marilyn Anne (McCall) Craft was called to her heavenly home on September 17, 2025. She was born in American Falls, Idaho, to Warren and Ruth (Ward) McCall on September 5, 1951, the third of five children and their only daughter. She was raised on family farms near Toppenish, Washington, and Pasco, Washington, attending MacLaughlin Jr. High School and Pasco High School. Following graduation, she attended Columbia Basin College in Pasco, then pursued an AA in secretarial at Kinman Business University in Spokane, Washington. It was at Kinman where she met the love of her life, Gary Craft.

Marilyn and Gary were wed on June 16, 1973, at College View Baptist Church in her hometown of Pasco, before settling in Gary's hometown of Boulder, Montana. Together, they built both a house and a home. Marilyn gave birth to four children: Cody Ray (d. 1973), Jeremy Sky, Holly Anne (Zahller), and Katrina Marie (Rauch). She was a loving and caring mother who never failed to attend her children's activities, and she was a devoted and supportive wife who always encouraged Gary in his extensive community service while pursuing her own interests and careers.

Marilyn worked as a medical secretary for the town doctors and dentists from 1973 until 1980. She was also employed as the administrative secretary for what was then the Boulder River School and Hospital, and later worked in the elections department of the Jefferson County Clerk and Recorder's office, before serving as the administrative secretary at Jefferson High School. She was the office manager at the Office of Public Instruction before serving as the Deputy Clerk of the District Court for the Fifth Judicial District. Marilyn was subsequently elected and re-elected Clerk of District Court for several terms before retiring. She also operated businesses selling Avon and Stampin' Up products.

Community service was important to Marilyn and Gary. While Gary volunteered as scoutmaster to Troop 50, Marilyn helped by arranging for supplies for meetings and campouts. When Gary coached little league baseball and high school wrestling, Marilyn helped by preparing team meals. She and Gary headed up the Boulder United Methodist Youth Group and were vital members of the Boulder Kiwanis Club.

Marilyn had a deep Christian faith and lived that faith every moment of her life. She was a member of the Boulder United Methodist Church, where she co-founded the Boulder United Methodist Women, an organization dedicated to serving the Boulder community and other communities in need worldwide. She helped establish the Crop Walk in Boulder and worked through that organization to raise funds to end hunger and poverty in the U.S. and elsewhere. Her activities within the church were always directed towards serving her community and putting as much good into the world as she could.

Music played a vital role in Marilyn's life. She learned to sing while working in the garden and kitchen with her mother and never stopped. She was a member of every school choir in junior high and high school, as well as a member of the choir at every church she attended. Her beautiful alto voice accompanied every household chore she undertook. She also played the piano. She took lessons from childhood until adulthood and played daily. She played classical music and hymns, serving as the church pianist for the Boulder and Clancy Methodist Churches. Gary often accompanied her on guitar.

Marilyn was extraordinarily creative and enjoyed various crafts, appropriately enough. She loved sewing, gardening, and baking. She loved scrapbooking and making albums for her family and friends. She loved making cards for every occasion: birthdays, anniversaries, holidays. She was a member of the local quilting guild, gardening club, and scrapbooking group. She also enjoyed painting and drawing.

She loved spending time with her family, including her brothers, sisters-in-law, brothers-in-law, and their families-and perhaps particularly with her grandchildren. Every milestone and holiday came with a card and a treat, and a hug and a kiss whenever possible.

In April 2025, she learned she had an aggressive form of leukemia. She was determined to fight the disease and bravely underwent chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant. Gary remained by her side the whole time, offering boundless attention, assistance, encouragement, and companionship. She maintained her faith and her intrinsic cheerfulness during this difficult treatment and seemed to be recovering well. However, following these ordeals, she contracted an infection she could not overcome and left this world to be with her savior, her parents, and her firstborn son.

Marilyn is survived by her husband Gary, children Jeremy (Erin) Craft, Holly (Jeffrey) Zahller, and Katrina (Bradley) Rauch; brothers Allen (Betty Anne), Kenneth (Janice), David (Ruth), and Jonathan (Jody) McCall; brother-in-law Gerold (Carmen) Craft; grandchildren Annabelle Leigh and Tommy Craft; Genevieve (Jonah) Snell and Alaric Zahller; and Isaac, Elias, Daniel, and Micah Rauch; 21 nieces and nephews; dozens of cousins; and innumerable friends.

Everyone who knew Marilyn knew what a gentle, compassionate, kind, capable, and intelligent woman she was. The world is darker without her, but brighter for her having lived in it.