Marion Brimm Rewey

VERONA - Marion Brimm Rewey, age 95, passed away at home surrounded by her family on June 4, 2015. Marion was born on March 3, 1920 in Memphis, Tenn., to her parents, Wilbur and Emma (Kruger) Brimm. Marion grew up in Memphis and after graduating with a degree in English from Blue Mountain College in Mississippi, went on to teach school in Holcombe, Miss., and Green Cove Springs, Fla. While in Florida, she took a position in Jacksonville at the YWCA where she met Bill Rewey at a dance she had organized. Bill was a Naval aviator stationed in Jacksonville at the time. They were married Aug. 13, 1949, in a garden wedding at her parents home in Memphis. Marion and Bill lived in Norfolk, Va., Columbus, Ohio, and eventually moved to Madison where they built a home in Orchard Ridge. In 1964, they moved to a hilltop home in the country where Marion cultivated her beautiful flower gardens and reconnected with her love of writing poetry. Marions career as a poet began when she was in 7th grade in Memphis. Her poem for a classroom assignment was so well written that the teacher insisted she must have copied it. The experience was so mortifying to a shy young girl that Marion didnt write again for the next 30 years, until she decided to try a creative writing course at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and wrote an article titled Guess What I Have in My Rec Room (her husbands airplane). Marion became a published author when a magazine bought that article, and her writing career began in earnest. From her early days of round-robins with the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets, Marions poetry went on to win many state and national honors including three Bards Chair awards from the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets, three Grand Prix awards from the National Federation of State Poetry Societies and the Grand Prize from Writers Digest magazine. Two of her poems were read on National Public Radio and yet another was read into the Congressional record. Marion continued to write and be published until just a few years ago, and her flower gardens still make passers-by pause and linger. Marion quietly served her community in many ways. She volunteered at the Dane County Hospital in Verona, where she worked with patients discharged from the state hospital system. For a number of years Marion was the volunteer librarian at the Mendota Mental Health Hospital, and often invited patients to share Thanksgiving dinner with her family. During many summers, she welcomed into her home and family youngsters from the Chicago inner city. Marion endowed a writers scholarship at Tuskegee University and was a hostess at the Governors mansion during John Reynolds administration. Between these activities and raising three sons, Marion managed to fly as co-pilot with Bill in their Cessna Skyhawk to Memphis several times, to California, Washington D.C., Alaska (twice) and the Bahamas. Marion and Bill were charter members of Orchard Ridge United Church of Christ where Marion taught Sunday school. The family spent many happy times at a cottage on Pine Lake in Oneida County. Marion is survived by her husband of 65 years, William Rewey; by three sons; Tim (Kathleen Gerke) of Desoto, Wis., neighbors, Chris (Kathleen Bobholz-Rewey) and neighbors Mike (Linda Rewey); as well as two grandchildren, Mackenzie Meitner of Philadelphia, Pa., and Nickolas Meitner (Eva Meitner) of Tucson, Ariz. Marion will be missed by all who knew and loved her. The family would like to thank the staff at Meriter Hospital, Agrace HospiceCare and BrightStar Home Help for their compassionate care. Memorials may be made to the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets at www.wfop.org or the Orchard Ridge United Church of Christ. INSTRUCTIONS (SOME POETIC) IN THE EVENT OF DEATH, an unpublished poem by Marion Brimm Rewey Bank the reusable me eyes, nerves or heart, but burn the rest. And now comes the poetic part. Scatter my ashes on a hill. I would like to come back as a tree, a rose or as seeds for the song of a bird. Gone is a long, long time so please, no boxes of concrete or steel. Set me free on a hill as the soil for a fern. When the wind blows, on my lyred soul, I may return as the song of a whippoorwill. So long. P.S. And scatter my rhymes. I wrote for the lonely (Ive tasted their fears). I may, with grace, return as tears. A memorial service will be held on June 22, 2015 at 11 a.m. at the ORCHARD RIDGE UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST, 1501 Gilbert Road, Madison, with a visitation beginning at 10 a.m. All Faiths Funeral & Cremation Services Madison (608)442-0477 www.866allfaiths.com