Marlys Waggoner

Marlys Waggoner was born on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 30, 1933, to Herman and Helen Barz of Williams, Iowa. Her children and grandchildren loved to hear her stories about growing up on a farm during the Great Depression, wearing dresses made from chicken feed sacks, and attending school with her siblings in a one-room schoolhouse.

Marlys attended Williams High School and graduated at age 16. After high school, she moved to the big city of Fort Dodge to attend secretarial school. Her first professional job was at Baker Plumbing in Fort Dodge, where she met her friend Barb Waggoner, and Barb’s brother, Gib. Marlys and Gib were married Sept. 5, 1959, in Algona, Iowa, and set up housekeeping in Ames while Gib completed his degree at Iowa State University. After graduation, they moved to Seattle, where they both got jobs at Boeing, along with several other friends from ISU.

In April of 1963, Marlys, at seven months pregnant, retired from Business Administration and began her second career in Family Administration. Ann was born in June, followed the next year by Jayne, and later by Tim. Gib and Marlys moved from Seattle to San Bernardino, Calif., Boston, Redlands, Calif., Denver, Palos Verdes, Calif., Palm Desert, Calif., and finally settled in Indio, Calif. With the kids in school, Gib helped Marlys find the time to go back to work in Administration managing the office at his AAMCO Transmission shop.

In 1995, Gib and Marlys moved to Sacramento where they started a new adventure as pizza barons. Around the same time, Marlys was thrilled to welcome grandchildren to the family — Marie, Michaela, Megan, Maura, Sebastian, and Abby — and was among the first to hold and spoil each of them. In 2005, Gib finally retired, and they moved back to Indio, spending winters in California and summers in Minnesota and Iowa fishing, visiting family, and getting out of the heat.

Marlys’s life’s work was her family. She was dedicated to making a loving, comfortable home for family and friends, and she was a smashing success! She went to be with the Lord on New Year’s Eve 2021. She is survived by her husband, Gib; children Ann (Mike) Aken, Jayne (Mike) Keller, Tim (Rosetta) Waggoner; and grandchildren Marie, Michaela, and Megan Keller, Maura and Sebastian Waggoner, and Abigail Aken.

Mom, we miss you, but you will never be far away, because you will forever be in our hearts. Services were held at 11 a.m. Friday, Jan. 7, 2022, at Trinity Lutheran Church in Indio.