Marilyn Showler Wuestefeld, age 80, formerly of Red Bank and Rumson and Englewood, Florida, passed away Dec. 7, 2021, at Hackensack Meridien Nursing & Rehabilitation, Shrewsbury, after a long illness.
Marilyn was born July 23, 1941, in Long Branch to the late John and Mary Gibbons Showler. She was raised in Long Branch and West Long Branch and graduated from Long Branch High School with highest honors in 1959. She attended Beaver College (now Arcadia University) on a full merit scholarship and graduated in 1963 after being named to the “Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities & Colleges” that same year.
Following college, Marilyn became an elementary school teacher at Deane Porter School in Rumson. Over her 30-year career teaching first and third grades, she was most proud of having taught hundreds of children to read. In the late 1970s she and a fellow teacher, Jeanne Heimbold Boehles, coauthored a book on the importance of sharing and cooperation, called “G is for Gardenia,” which chronicled the trials and tribulations of combining their two classrooms into one while the school was building a new wing. In her last years as a teacher, she helped develop an integrated curriculum unit about the history of Rumson and, as a result, unearthed a trove of stories about the town, its homes and its residents.
She married Albert Wuestefeld in 1968; they lived in Rumson and raised their daughter there. After their retirement, they split their time between Englewood, Florida and Shadow Lake Village in Red Bank. They had been married almost 50 years before he passed away in June 2018.
Marilyn was a devout beachgoer and spent her summers firmly planted in her chair at Ship Ahoy Beach Club at the “North End,” happily devouring book after book. She loved to decorate and was a talented needleworker, from sewing to needlepoint to crewelwork to knitting. She played the piano beautifully and perfected her rendition of Debussy’s “Claire de Lune.” Her annual Christmas Eve cocktail party was legendary. Ladylike and perfectly put together, her look was always topped off with her signature haircut and winsome smile.
She is survived by her daughter Amy Wuestefeld of Rumson; her sister Kathleen Elfner (Al) of West Long Branch; her niece Kristen Savare (Marc) of Ocean; and two great-nieces.
A memorial Mass will be held at 10 a.m. Dec. 23 at Holy Cross Church in Rumson.
The article originally appeared in the December 15 – 22, 2021 print edition of The Two River Times.
