Marilyn Sackett Obituary

Cows around the world hung their heads a little lower, when a one-of-a-kind light left this earth for even greener pastures. Marilyn Sackett passed away on December 14, 2025, surrounded by family and held by the love of the friends she's made across 91 remarkable years. Her rich life spanned 4 continents, 7 states, and the countless lives she touched as a wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother, sister, aunt, friend, nurse, spiritual teacher, and faithful believer in the Golden Rule.

Marilyn was born on June 8, 1934 to Stephen and Joyce Morse. Raised on a dairy farm in the tiny town of Lyndon, Vermont, her childhood was spent rising early, milking the cows, picking beans and strawberries, riding her beloved Morgan, Banner, and helping wrangle her 5 younger siblings – Janice, Beverly, Nancy, Stevie and Stephanie -- for school.

The Great Depression formed her values and world views – be thankful for what you have, do the best you can, and put one foot in front of the other. A deeply faithful family, Marilyn was encouraged to find joy in the simplest things and to look for the best in the most difficult people, precepts that guided her throughout her life. She remained somehow at the center of her New England family even after she moved away.

After high school, Marilyn attended Mary Hitchcock Nursing School, and while there, she met a Dartmouth NROTC student Richard (Dick) Wallace, who thoroughly charmed her. They married in a small Methodist church in Vermont, marking the start of an epic shared journey.

Together, Marilyn and Dick raised five children; Jay, Ann, Pamela, Brian, and Jennifer. As a Naval officer's wife, Marilyn was often left alone for months to manage the crew for the rituals of family existence. On snow days, she would line them up, bundle them into their snowsuits, and by the time she got to the fifth, the first had to use the bathroom and it started all over again.

Life as matriarch of a Navy family was an unceasing stream of challenges and opportunities, which Marilyn mastered with aplomb and a keen sense of fun. There were the constant moves, to locations as remote from each other as Florida, Maine, Virginia, California, and Dakar, Senegal. And there was the growing brood of very different kids whose hands needed holding through these rough transitions and whose knees needed band-aids and kisses.

In 1979, Dick died tragically of cancer (at the age of 44), and Marilyn was left alone in the middle of life to pick up the pieces and chart a path forward. She was totally unflappable, and one of her life mottos-learned while growing up on the Vermont farm-was that you should stop feeling sorry for yourself and just make the best of the hand you've been dealt. She found herself returning to nursing, working the night shift in the Critical Care Unit so she could be home during the days for the kids who were still at home.

A few years later, Marilyn's life took a dramatic turn when she was introduced to another Naval officer, Dean Sackett, who had been carefully vetted in advance by a dear friend of Marilyn and Dick's. Marilyn and Dean's paths crossed at the perfect moment in their lives, and they immediately fell for each other, marrying in 1981. The challenge of blending the two families was facilitated by Dean's exuberance and outgoing personality-shared with his irrepressible son Dean III-as well as by Dean's passionate and discerning love of good food. (The families were introduced to each other over a delicious Italian meal that Dean prepared, and by the end of the evening the kids on both sides were completely won over.).

After an initial stint in Connecticut, Marilyn and Dean enjoyed a series of remarkable adventures together around the world-first in Geneva, Switzerland where Dean was representing the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the START Negotiations with the Soviets, and then in Japan, where he was in charge of US Naval Forces Ashore in that country. Their life in Switzerland involved regular weekend outings in spectacular settings. They enjoyed countless walks through alpine meadows (with breaks for Vacherin Fribourgeois and other impressive local cheeses), as well as trips that Marilyn found hair-raising over the Furka Pass to destinations on the sunny side of the alps. In Japan they made a deep impression on their hosts-many of whom continue to send holiday cards to this day-and braved the challenges of the local cuisine, including shrimp at one dinner that attempted to walk off the plate before they could be consumed.

The next significant turn came after Marilyn and Dean completed their tour in Japan, when they made the decision to relocate to a magical community in Aiken, South Carolina. The plan was that Dean would run an office that supported the Savannah River Site while they both transitioned to what they hoped would be a rich and active retirement. Their hopes were achieved: they threw themselves into their new lives in Aiken with characteristic gusto and optimism, and Marilyn quickly made herself a true fixture of their adopted community. She became a leader in many invaluable community initiatives, ranging from hospice work to Steven Ministries to their beloved First Presbyterian congregation where she served as Deacon and Elder. She led the Country Gardener's club and was president of both the Aiken Town and Country Women's Club and Chapter B of PEO, forming countless deep and abiding friendships in the process. Their beautiful Aiken home, filled with interesting mementos of many far-flung adventures -along with a great many depictions of cows-became a cherished gathering place for children and grandchildren scattered across the country (and abroad). The roast turkeys were always somehow the best ever, and no Christmas was complete without a raucous figgy-pudding march.

Marilyn and Dean became such stalwart Aiken citizens that it was virtually impossible to imagine they would ever leave. But Marilyn's health was declining, and the difficult decision was taken in the Fall of 2023 to relocate to an assisted living facility near their daughters in Virginia. Dean's devoted commitment to Marilyn's care over the last five years of her life was a remarkable testament to the love that they shared, and her deep love of Dean survived the diminishment of her cognitive capacities. In the end, there were no words, but what was left was that unmistakable sparkle in her eyes.

Marilyn's legacy of love continues through Dean, their six children and their spouses Katharina, Pat, Lisa, Lise, and Rudy, their thirteen grandchildren, and seven great grand-children (with three on the way).

In her memory, Marilyn asks that we love one another, but if you are so inclined, donations can also be made to First Presbyterian Church of Aiken, 224 Barnwell Ave, NE, Aiken, SC, 29801.