Lebanon, N.H. —
Marilyn Lois Guild was born in Attleboro, Mass., on July 21, 1932. Her happy childhood masked the Great Depression as she played outdoors and rode bicycles with her sister and many cousins on the family’s duck farm in Mansfield, Mass. In the early 1940s, her family briefly moved to Oakland, Calif., where she watched military jets deploy from a nearby base in response to the attack on Pearl Harbor. After high school, Marilyn worked at the landmark Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods, and later at the Hercules Powder Company in Mansfield, Mass. She married her high school sweetheart, Pete Mason, in September 1952, and helped support the family with positions at Nichols Hardware, Home Improvement, Profile Sports, the United Way, Currier & Company, Creare, Split Ballbearing, and the Montshire Museum. In the mid-70s, she started her own bakery after training at the Culinary Institute of America in Hartford, Conn., and became locally known for her delicious and beautiful Black Forest Tortes. Marilyn served as chair of the local American Red Cross Blood Drives and was an active member of the Woman’s Club, Northern Lights Quilt Guild, Needlecrafters, and the First Congregational Church. She and Pete spend weekends in the 70s and 80s square dancing and making life-long friends as members of the Twin State Squares and the Sunshine Stompers. A bugler in her high school band, Marilyn was honored to play taps at the funerals of hometown soldiers lost during World War II. Her other skills and hobbies included baking, cooking, sewing, knitting, early American decorating, and her very favorite, quilting. In recent years, though, nothing gave her more joy than watching her nine great-grandchildren laugh and learn and thrive.
She loved her family, eclectic TV shows, the Red Sox, and ice cream.
Marilyn is predeceased by her infant grandson, K.R. Jonathon Mason. She is survived by her husband of 65 years, Carlton “Pete” Mason of Lebanon; sister Janet and George Kirchner of Carver, Mass.; son James and Dayle Mason of Lyme, N.H.; son Richard “Rick” and Kathy Mason of Portsmouth, N.H.; daughter Jane Mason of Lebanon, N.H.; granddaughter Sarah and Jonathan Eck of Hopkinton, N.H.; grandson Brandon and Nicole Mason of Grantham, N.H.; granddaughter Kate and Shane Galie of Charlottesville, Va.; grandson Christopher and Kristin Mason of Henniker, N.H.; granddaughter Jennifer Mason of Springfield, Mo.; and her beloved great-grandchildren Hannah, Grace, Mason, Hailey, Luke, Coby, Tyler, Hunter, and Caleb. She also leaves behind beloved in-laws, nieces, nephews, and cousins.
Calling hours are Friday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Ricker Funeral Home in Lebanon. A memorial service follows on Saturday at 1 p.m. at the First Congregational Church of Lebanon.
An online guest book is available to leave a message of condolence by visiting www.rickerfuneralhome.com
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the First Congregational Church of Lebanon (P.O. Box 230, Lebanon, NH 03766), or the Visiting Nurse and Hospice for VT and NH (P.O. Box 1339, White River Junction, VT 05001).