Marilyn Pally Eckholdt

Marilyn Eckholdt passed away Sunday, June 26, 2022 in Ogden with family near, under the care of hospice for several months.

She is survived by her two children, Thom and Liz; six grandchildren; and two sisters, Dorothy Smith and Shirley Hudgens. She was preceded in death by her late husband, William “Bill” Eckholdt.

Marilyn was born in Ogden to Elizabeth “Betty” and Alex “Al” Pally and grew up in Ogden. She was the oldest of three sisters. She graduated from Ogden High School where she was in the pep club called a Collette and went on to enroll at Weber College and Utah State University studying the Secretarial Arts and Sciences and was a member of the Kappa Delta Sorority. She was a “Miss Ogden” contestant for the city pageant.

In 1960, a few days after college graduation, she departed Ogden to San Diego, CA to marry Larry Westerman, a US Naval Officer Aviator where they had their two children. Marilyn later taught college level Secretarial Sciences at Southwestern College and Grossmont College. Through the rest of her life, she was always very fond of San Diego and the Grossmont Ward.

After a divorce she later remarried William Eckholdt in the Los Angeles Temple who she met through the Patriarch and friend in the ward where she typed the blessings. They immediately relocated to Phoenix, AZ where she served on the Stake Relief Society Board and had many fond memories of serving the sisters of the stake. She cultivated a program of “Entertaining with a Flair” in conjunction with the Cultural Refinement program of the Church. Here she gained the skills to become a master in the art of sophisticated hostessing and entertaining. Because of Bill’s job transfer they relocated to Seattle, WA and then Glendora, CA for a short period of time eventually retiring back to Ogden where her roots and family were.

In Ogden she was actively involved in years of service with the Ogden LDS Temple. She had extensive personal passions as a collector of certain interests including baskets, ribbon, clocks, travel souvenirs, sets of fancy dish/glassware, cloth napkins, and elegant entertaining items. She enjoyed leading the hymns in church, and commonly enjoyed playing cards and teaching new games with friends. She was also an accomplished ribbon-bow making hobbyist, greeting card stylus stenciler and greatly enjoyed thrifting/secondhand store antiquing where she collected santas, nativities, dishes, and more.

The family would like to thank Canyon Hospice and Hidden Valley Assisted Living for her care.

Marilyn will be laid to rest next to her husband at Lindquist’s Washington Heights Memorial Park, 4500 Washington Blvd. Services entrusted to Lindquist’s Ogden Mortuary.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests, that those wishing to pay particular respects donate an owned household item to a local thrift/secondhand store, in honor of the interest she so passionately endeavored later in life.

Celebration of life services will be live-streamed on Saturday, July 30th at 10 a.m. and available by scrolling to the bottom of Marilyn’s obituary page at: www.lindquistmortuary.com, where condolences may also be shared.