Marilyn Parrish

Parrish, Marilyn Celeste Rose Mahan, 61, retired professor of English who taught at Newman University, was stricken suddenly by the return of Polio she had survived as a toddler in 1951 and 52, and died peacefully in her sleep December 6, 2010, at Harry Hynes Memorial Hospice. Memorial Service will be at 3 p.m. Saturday, December 11, at Watson Funeral Home, 3201 S. Webb Road. Preceded in death by her daughter, Tess McCormick. Survived by parents Virgene Mahan Tilly and Ronald T. Mahan, husband Edwin Parrish, sisters Marlene and Michele Mahan, and daughter Christen Morris and her husband, Aaron Morris. Marilyn earned her Associate, Bachelor, and Master of Arts degrees at the University of Texas at Austin with 4.0 averages, and she was proudly active in a number of liberal political causes and organizations. A recognized scholar of James Joyce and other Irish authors, she also was the president of the Classic Books Club at Watermark Books for more than a decade, and she was a docent at the Wichita Art Museum. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in Marilyn's name to assist in the final eradication of polio, the disease which took her life. Checks should be made payable to "Rotary Foundation-Polio" and addressed to The Rotary Club of West Wichita, P.O. Box 12064, Wichita, KS 67277.