Marilyn was born August 8, 1932 to Ralph and Mildred Fisher and raised along with her six siblings in the tiny farming town of Losantville, IN - then and still a population of 250. Upon graduation with her high school class of five students, she attended Ball State University in Muncie, IN. It was there that Marilyn was recruited to work at the headquarters of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Washington D.C. having passed their rigorous background checks with excellence.
The 1950s were exciting! Marilyn’s job was touring new G-men recruits and she traveled the elevator daily with J. Edgar Hoover who wrote her an impressive number of letters congratulating her on promotions, thanking her for her dedication, and cautioning her to take care of her health. She often recalled him to be the consummate gentleman.
During her personal time, she attended Patricia Stevens Finishing School, became a model, was especially featured in the Eisenhower Inauguration Parade swinging a golf club alongside the Georgia float (per CNN viewing), and was also a Miss Universe pageant contestant.
Marilyn met her first husband, a Virginia Tech student, who became an engineer working on NASA projects in Houston and eventually the Philadelphia suburbs. Through the late ‘50s and the ‘60s the couple produced five children: Bruce, Kimberly, Craig, Diane, and Scott. Raising a family kept Marilyn busy, yet she found time to sew Vogue patterns, making outfits for herself and her daughters.
The ‘70s brought changes. Marilyn founded and ran the Main Line Models Guild and during that time she met and eventually married the late J. Bard McLean. In the ‘80s the two became one of the first residents of Jonathan’s Landing in Jupiter, FL. During their 48-year marriage, Marilyn and Bard enjoyed their travels to Hawaii and throughout Europe and South America as well as summers spent with children and grandchildren at their second home on the water in Avalon, NJ. But perhaps Marilyn’s greatest pleasure was found in living at the top floor of the Anchorage in Jonathan’s Landing and all her friendships there.
Marilyn’s is known for her inherent elegance and glamour, her love of interior design, clothing, entertaining, and above all her radiant smile, beauty and charm which only increased in her advanced years. Her photograph was taken just days before her passing.
Marilyn was recently predeceased by her husband, J. Bard McLean. She is survived by her loving five children: son, Bruce Kent Golgowski and wife Mary (Lebanon, PA) and their children Joshua, Craig, and Laura Fisher; her daughter, Kimberly Ann Barnes and husband Clay Creasey (San Francisco and Ojai, CA); Craig Alan Golgowski (Kernersville, NC) ; Diane Elaine Hutchinson and husband John (Jupiter, FL and Bethany Beach, DE) and their children Brian and Brendan; and her son Scott Drew Fisher (Princeton, NJ).
Marilyn’s great-grandchildren are Foster Marilyn, John Rowan and Fallon May Fisher and Lydia Grey and Wesley Kent Golgowski. J. Bard McLean’s three sons also survive Marilyn: Bard Jr., Keith and Derek and his wife Anita and their children Ryan, William, and Jack. Marilyn is preceded in death by her brothers, Willard Fisher and Jerry Fisher and is survived by brothers, Gordon Fisher, Gregory Fisher and sisters, Georgina McCoy, and Judy Moreland.
Marilyn’s children are grateful to the excellent staff of Jupiter Medical Center for their sensitive care during what was a sudden and thankfully brief illness. Marilyn’s family will come together when her internment at her request in her hometown of Losantville. In lieu of flowers, donations to the Alzheimer’s Association would be deeply appreciated.
DONATIONS
SHARE OBITUARYSHARE
v.1.14.0