| Honored by: | |
| Brick location: | A:19 map |
Marilynn Jane Shean Van Brocklin
Born October 10, 1922, in Harrisville, NY, to Verner Milton Sheen and Viola Stowell. She was graduated from Harrisville HS in 1941 and enlisted in the Army Air Corps for the duration of WW II. She was stationed at Ft. Olgelthorpe, GA, Waco, TX, and Des Moines, IA, involved with the training of B-25 aircrews. She was married July 8, 1946, in Watertown, NY, to Kermit Elmer Van Brocklin, son of George B. Van Brocklin and Alice Mable Reid, and together raised three sons. She retired from the JC Penny Co. in 1986 after 25 years of employment and currently resides in Palm Coast, FL.
Hers was a tested generation. They did what was required - they were doers. As children of the Depression, they were made hard, yet learned to care for each other. They lost their youth to a Great War - but did what was required - they were doers. They broke the sound barrier, conquered space and went to the moon - they were doers. They built a great and compassionate society, confronted the scourge of communism and held forward and high the lamplight of freedom. They did all this while quietly building families, neighborhoods, and communities.
Our mother is not a hero because of any single deed that stands out among others of her generation. She is not our hero because of an engraved brick in a plaza. She is our hero for living her life with honesty, integrity, character and love of country and people. She answered her country's call to duty, created a loving home, loved a husband and gave three sons to the world. She was a doer. Her monument is the people she has touched, and those she has loved. These thoughts and this stone are a time and a place as one.
-Lee, Stephen and Reid, her sons
Submitted on 5/10/98