Obituary of Marianne Walker

Marianne Walker was born to Mary Ann and Earl Hines in Brooklyn, New York on November 11^th, 1939. She was the middle child of three. Her older sister was named Barbara and her younger brother was named Charles, aka, Chuck. Barbara retired in Sequim, Washington and passed away in 1993, and Chuck who lived in Boulder Creek and Pioneer, California most of his adult life passed on in 2003 surrounded by his family in Oregon. Marianne lived in many different places throughout her life, which we will get to later.

 

Marianne attended school in Brooklyn, New York as a child and eventually moved to Providence, Rhode Island where she attended Pawtucket West High School and graduated from in 1957. After high school, she married and had three children named Marianne, William, and Maureen. Eventually she moved from the east coast over to California. There she settled and worked tirelessly, including up to three jobs at a time in the corporate world, in order to support and raise her children.

 

During a trip to the Oregon coast, she saw how beautiful and easy-going life was compared to a big city, and decided to relocate her three teens to the small town of Lincoln City. On her off time as a hobby, she became involved with a theater group named the “Red Octopus”, where she met many dear friends who she remained in touch with throughout her life.

 

After her children were grown, Marianne had the opportunity to sail and live on a boat in Oahu, Hawaii and that is when her life really took a new and exciting path. At 46, she found her true passion and new career; Chinese medicine, and went to school for acupuncture where she studied under Dr. Lily Siou who was a master of Chinese Medicine and qigong.  She even was able to study and intern at a Chinese Hospital in Beijing. During her time in Hawaii, she also accumulated more lifelong and everlasting friends.

 

Marianne then started holding traveling acupuncture clinics at several friends’ homes, and continued to do so wherever she traveled and lived. She was a stellar acupuncturist with a real gift for diagnosis. Due to her training, she treated the true “Chinese way”, not the watered-down Americanized version. And throughout her practicing years, she had a sliding scale and never turned anyone away due to lack of funds. Even after retiring, she continued to treat family and friends for free who sought her out for her incredible skill. She also had many inspiring stories about patients who had lost all hope for finding relief or a cure for various ailments, but then came to her and finally found a resolution. Although Marianne was of course careful and precise with all her patients, her friends and family have a joke that she could also be pretty brutal and ruthless when it came to her treatments with people she was familiar and comfortable with! ;)

 

Eventually her travels and desire to seek life outside of the U.S. brought her to her family’s homeland, Ireland. She was able to obtain her citizenship and move there due to her family’s lineage. She continued to practice there and met more lifelong friends along the way, but due to the climate, she could not permanently stay in Ireland. While seeking out a dryer climate throughout Europe, she stumbled upon and fell in love with the country of Slovenia. This turned out to be her final location and became what Marianne thought of as her “true home”.  Although she retired from official work here, she continued to inspire and teach Qigong around the world with a traveling group called “Divine at Play” up until 2019. Along with her work, Marianne also had an adventurous spirit and loved participating in many daring and exciting outdoor activities her entire life. Anyone that spent time with Marianne also quickly learned of her love for board games and cards. She taught friends and family, including each grandchild once they became of age. Some of her favorites were Cribbage, Hand and Foot, Scrabble and Jamb.

 

In the fall of 2020, Marianne unfortunately fell ill in Slovenia with stage 4 ovarian cancer, but thankfully her dear friends there surrounded her and never left her side and took great care of her. In addition, one of her lifelong friends from Hawaii graciously chose to fly over and further help take care of her. Even though Marianne considered Slovenia her home, she eventually found her heart’s desire was to be home with her family. That became a reality with the accompaniment of her friend’s return to the states in June 2021. Sadly, the time was short, and Marianne passed away only a week after her arrival to Oregon. Her family took great care of her around the clock and showered her with love, laughter and stories. She passed away on June 10^th, surrounded by her daughter Maureen, son Bill, their spouses Robert and Michele, and three of her grandchildren, Nicole, Samuel and Madeline.

 

Throughout her life, despite her locations near or far, she maintained many lasting relationships with friends around the world and several of her family members. She was survived by her three children and ten grandchildren. Despite all her many activities and travels, she always prioritized her family first and made sure to visit her family in Oregon annually. Although she is no longer earthly bound, she will be forever loved and greatly missed by all whom she touched.

 

 

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