Marilyn Castello

Marilyn Jean Castello of Roswell, NM passed away from us on the morning of Saturday, April 3, 2022, with much of her family by her side or paused in prayer from their homes. She is reunited with her parents, all four of her siblings, and her life-long, one true love, Tom Castello Senior, who for sixty-three years of marriage made her laugh… and cuss some too.

Marilyn was born in Bucyrus, North Dakota on January 12, 1932, the second of three girls, with two older brothers that both doted on and terrorized them, as brothers do. After graduating from high school, where she played on the women’s basketball team, (yeah, who knew that?) she enrolled for classes at a teacher’s college in far flung Kansas City, Missouri and made her escape from farm life.

She eventually landed a job at the airport, selling tickets behind the counter for an airline. One day her roommate and bestie said her boyfriend had a buddy who not only had a good job, he had his very own car, AND no girlfriend. The ensuing blind date launched a love story that Hollywood is not fit to tell you.

They married and soon welcomed their firstborn son, Tom Junior. When they were told that any further additions to the family would have to be done by adoption, that’s just what they did. In 1964, they brought home a baby boy who would completely alter their understanding of how much, and how loudly, a toddler can talk. They named him Stephen Addington. Their love so deeply infused those boys that the only thing Steve has ever thought he was, was a Castello.

Marilyn loved God! She never found the worldly event of circumstance that was more powerful than the love of Jesus Christ. I am sure just as soon as he helps give her little corner of Heaven a good going over, including the outside windows, they will truly be at home with each other as old friends are.

Marilyn also loved her Immanuel Lutheran Church family and was honored to worship with and work alongside them all those years.

In another time and age, Marilyn Castello could have happily launched her keen mind and competitive spirit upon the corporate world, and consumers would have been the better for it. Whether she was quilting, gardening, square dancing, or simply using a wooden spoon to instill love-based values in the behinds of her boys, she never, ever, deviated from her defaults setting. Which was doing her very best at all times and knowing that luck, and God, favored those who worked for their prayers.

Marilyn was always a little shy and made herself reach out to people because she saw the rewards these actions could have. So, if you were her friend, please understand how special and interesting she found you.

Memorial services for Marilyn will be held at 10:00 AM, Friday, April 22, 2022 at Immanuel Lutheran Church, afterwards she will lie in rest with her husband, as that amazing tale begins a new chapter.

Marilyn was our family’s True North Star. She was 90 years old. She was awesome.

She is survived by her two sons, Tom and Steve, daughters-in-law Brenda and Teresa, grandchildren, Nathan and Kristie, Colin, Max and Hannah, Dakota and Raven, and great-grandchild Maverick.