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In MemoriamMarilyn Joyce Schrag (née Enns), 79, died February 22, 2017 at Schowalter Villa, Hesston, after a ten-year struggle with Huntington's Disease. She was born October 18, 1937 in Dodge City, the daughter of Edward and Alma Harms Enns. Skipping grades because of her fine intellect and hard work, Marilyn graduated from Gridley High School (Illinois) and studied at Grace College of the Bible (Omaha). She met Elwyn Schrag at Grace, where they received demerits for holding hands. They married on July 28, 1956 in Hooker, Oklahoma. Marilyn and Elwyn lived in Kansas; Canton, Cincinnati, and Salem (Ohio); Kansas City (Missouri); and Dallas before returning to their roots in Hesston in 2015. They have four children—Lynelle, Lori, Brian, and Brad—and eight grandchildren—Jonathan, James, Mindy, Austin, Lydia, Ethan, Julia, and Marisela.
Marilyn is physically striking: tall, elegant, and lovely. She has a high level of musicality and skill, playing the piano, organ, and marimba, and is attracted to many different types of music. She used these gifts to great effect in all the churches where Elwyn pastored, and played at civic and other events as well (especially the marimba). Marilyn also worked as a legal secretary and was a voracious and wide-ranging reader. Marilyn is quirky, creative, and a reluctant but willing adventurer. She climbed both the East and West Spanish Peaks in southern Colorado, hiked in Arizona, swam in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and traveled to France, Cameroon, and Peru. Marilyn is a spiritual mentor and model for her children and countless others. She prayed daily for her kids, and studied and knows Scripture well. Marilyn also reached out to minorities around her, including the first Black family to move into our neighborhood in Wichita. Marilyn has endless love for Elwyn, often calling him “Honey Elwyn.” She loyally supported him as a Pastor’s Wife (never clearly defined), and rose in righteous anger when church members disrespected him. After the initial shock of being diagnosed with Huntington’s Disease (HD) in 2008, Marilyn became a courageous, bold advocate for others like her. She proudly wore her “No sir, officer, I am not drunk” t-shirts, using them to educate the public (including police) about Huntington’s Disease. Marilyn is unfathomably glad to see Jesus face to face, after a long life of getting to know him only through frustratingly limited means on this Earth. |