Marilyn Solberg Russell
In Memory of Marilyn Solberg Russell who passed peacefully on May7, 2017 at home at age 87. "I have had a great life" she told everyone. Daughter of Harry L. Solberg, former Dean of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University in West Lafayette IN, and granddaughter of Halvor C. Solberg, founder of the Mechanical Engineering Department at South Dakota State University, she had real love of learning in her blood.
After graduation from West Lafayette High School, Marilyn attended Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, transferring back home to Purdue University to complete her BS in 1953. Later in life, as a wife and mother, she earned a master's degree in early childhood education from Southern Connecticut State College.
She married Warren Russell and they settled in New Canaan, CT. He became dean of students at Saxe Jr High School, allowing them to spend their summers exploring the world. In 1964 she and her husband took a year abroad traveling through Europe in a Volkswagen camper van, experiencing European history first hand and homeschooling their two young daughters. She had great interest in different cultures, and met people all over the globe who strive to make humanity more harmonious and have a positive impact on the world around them.
Back in Connecticut Marilyn was very active in the AFS (American Field Service) program, hosting several exchange students in her own home and helping to place many other foreign exchange students in her community.
Later in life she educated herself in health and healing through nutrition, and spiritual well being. She became very interested in reincarnation and she touched many people's lives with her counsel. After her husband's death in 1994 she moved into a small cottage on her daughter's ranch in northern California where she lived out her life. Except for summertime.
Every summer she traveled to her favorite place in the world: a small cabin on a lake in Ely, MN that her father built in 1930. A place of peace with no electricity or modern conveniences, where running water was pumped by hand. She always felt a kindred spirit with nature. She enjoyed swimming, canoeing and watching her children and grandchildren grow. She was a fierce supporter of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area and was a vocal supporter of environmental concerns in northern Minnesota as well as nationally.
She loved big band music, singing around the campfire and games of all kinds. On many occasions she managed to convince friends who thought of themselves as shy or reserved, to engage in hilarious games of charades.
For Marilyn life was rich with adventure, she tried bungee jumping in New Zealand in her 60's, She rode the zip line in Las Vegas at 80 and took her first para sail ride while on a cruise in Southern California at 82.
Marilyn Russell was preceded in death by her father, mother Gertrude Fouse Solberg, brother Donald Solberg, all of West Lafayette, and daughter Wendy Russell Peroni of Jupiter, Florida. She is survived by her daughter Janet Russell of Clearlake Oaks, CA, her two grandsons Kevin Peroni and Craig Peroni of Florida and her great granddaughter Cecelia Hendren-Brown also of California.
In Memory of Marilyn Solberg Russell who passed peacefully on May7, 2017 at home at age 87. "I have had a great life" she told everyone. Daughter of Harry L. Solberg, former Dean of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University in West Lafayette IN, and granddaughter of Halvor C. Solberg, founder of the Mechanical Engineering Department at South Dakota State University, she had real love of learning in her blood.
After graduation from West Lafayette High School, Marilyn attended Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, transferring back home to Purdue University to complete her BS in 1953. Later in life, as a wife and mother, she earned a master's degree in early childhood education from Southern Connecticut State College.
She married Warren Russell and they settled in New Canaan, CT. He became dean of students at Saxe Jr High School, allowing them to spend their summers exploring the world. In 1964 she and her husband took a year abroad traveling through Europe in a Volkswagen camper van, experiencing European history first hand and homeschooling their two young daughters. She had great interest in different cultures, and met people all over the globe who strive to make humanity more harmonious and have a positive impact on the world around them.
Back in Connecticut Marilyn was very active in the AFS (American Field Service) program, hosting several exchange students in her own home and helping to place many other foreign exchange students in her community.
Later in life she educated herself in health and healing through nutrition, and spiritual well being. She became very interested in reincarnation and she touched many people's lives with her counsel. After her husband's death in 1994 she moved into a small cottage on her daughter's ranch in northern California where she lived out her life. Except for summertime.
Every summer she traveled to her favorite place in the world: a small cabin on a lake in Ely, MN that her father built in 1930. A place of peace with no electricity or modern conveniences, where running water was pumped by hand. She always felt a kindred spirit with nature. She enjoyed swimming, canoeing and watching her children and grandchildren grow. She was a fierce supporter of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area and was a vocal supporter of environmental concerns in northern Minnesota as well as nationally.
She loved big band music, singing around the campfire and games of all kinds. On many occasions she managed to convince friends who thought of themselves as shy or reserved, to engage in hilarious games of charades.
For Marilyn life was rich with adventure, she tried bungee jumping in New Zealand in her 60's, She rode the zip line in Las Vegas at 80 and took her first para sail ride while on a cruise in Southern California at 82.
Marilyn Russell was preceded in death by her father, mother Gertrude Fouse Solberg, brother Donald Solberg, all of West Lafayette, and daughter Wendy Russell Peroni of Jupiter, Florida. She is survived by her daughter Janet Russell of Clearlake Oaks, CA, her two grandsons Kevin Peroni and Craig Peroni of Florida and her great granddaughter Cecelia Hendren-Brown also of California.
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