Marilea Koch was born on April 17, 1930, to Edward and Elizabeth Ann Paddison in Sesser, Illinois. She grew up in Sesser, graduated from Goode Barren Township High School, and attended Southern Illinois University, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree. After several years of teaching high school English in Polo, Lincoln, and Hinsdale, IL, she attended and earned a Master of Arts degree from Northeast Missouri State University.
After she moved to Salem, IL Marilea taught extension classes at Kaskaskia College, and then later worked for the Salem Chamber of Commerce. She also served on the Bryan Bennett Library Board and was an active member of Grace United Methodist Church.
Marilea valued education and has even endowed a scholarship in her parent’s names at SIU in Carbondale, IL. The Ed and Ann Paddison Scholarship enables Southern Illinois students who live south of I-70 to have access to higher education just as she did in the late 1940s.
Marilea enjoyed traveling and visited most areas of the continental USA. She visited parts of Europe as well. She was an avid reader. Even as she began to lose her eyesight, she discovered audiobooks and took advantage of the Illinois State Library lending system to have books at hand from daily listening to autobiographies historical fiction, and a variety of literature. Marilea not only taught creative writing by engaged in it herself by finding ways to insert amusing anecdotes into newsletters and personal Christmas letters.
Marilea is survived by her cousins Carolyn (Richard) Stubblefield of Mt. Vernon, IL, Mary Jane Alagna of O’Fallon, MO, and Norman (Sally) Dodds of Alpharetta, GA. She is also survived by her trusted friend Lael Snyder, who provided loving support as Marilea’s eyesight began to fail, transported her to countless medical appointments, and showed compassionate concern and care throughout her illness.
Marilea was preceded in death by her parents, her former husband Bill Koch, several relatives and close friends. Marilea made her home at Bob White apartments, then at the Manor in Salem Woods and as of late in Twin Willows Nursing Home. After a short illness, she passed from this life shortly before midnight on January 25, 2024.
Visitation for Marilea will be at the Sutherland-Rankin Funeral Home in Salem from 10:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m. Thursday, February 1, 2024. Funeral Services will be at 11:00 a.m. at the Sutherland-Rankin Funeral Home, with her minister Rev. Christine Cunningham officiating. Burial will be in the family plot in Maple Hill Cemetery in Sesser, Illinois on Thursday, February 1, 2024, at 1:30 PM with Rev. Jim Slone officiating. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Maple Hill Cemetery Trust Fund and will be accepted at the Sutherland-Rankin Funeral Home 310 North Broadway/ P.O. Box 97 Salem, Illinois 62881, (618)548-1234, who is honored to be of service to Marilea’s Family. Online condolences may be made to the family by visiting www.sutherlandfuneralhome.com and the Sutherland Funeral Homes Facebook page.
