Marion Eileen Dunkley Holyoak
submitted by: Emery Dalton
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I am going to tell you about my grandma Marion Eileen Dunkley Holyoak. She was born April 29, 1951 and she died of breast cancer on August 14, 2012. She lived 61 years. She grew up in Norwalk California before going to college at BYU. There she was a home economics major and from then on she loved to knit, sew, quilt, and craft. She liked to be around people especially my grandpa. She met him when she moved to Moab to become a teacher. She was always doing things for other people, she gave a lot of her quilts away because she made so many. She spent a lot of time quilting and sewing. Her sewing room is now a kids play room. She taught 4-H sewing and cake decorating classes. She was even in charge of the Moab 4-H program organizing the clubs and camps. She especially loved her grandkids. She would do crafts and make things for them. She loved bells and she had a huge collection of them. She was very good at making ginger bread houses. She even sewed her own wedding dress.
She had a few dogs, horses, cats, and bunnies. She had 5 kids and loved each one of them very much. She loved to travel. She went a lot of places while she was alive like Mexico and Ireland. She owned a fabric store at one point of time and she did mending and sewing for people. She supported everyone and was super kind.
She loved being on the mountain more than any other place. She built a cabin from scratch with her family and she could be found there most weekends all summer long. They had a few bear problems. One time a bear took a bite out of her library book, I can’t imagine the look on the librarians faces when she told them that a bear bit her book.
She had a very happy life even though the very end was rough on everyone. She never complained about her cancer, she always tried to be positive. She made a lot of friends in her time. She helped everyone. She was a happy person most the time. I wish that I could have met my grandma, but she died just 2 years before I was born. She was a very good person. I know everyone loved my grandma because she was awesome. If I had a chance to be with my grandma for one day I would go to Joann’s with her and get some kangaroo fabric and she would help me make kangaroo pajamas. I love to hear stories of my Grandma Marion. We try to remember her by celebrating her birthday with things she loved like spaghetti and Hostess cupcakes. We also carry on the traditions that she started like playing baseball with leftover Easter eggs and drinking green milk on St. Patrick’s day. She tried to make every little holiday special. I hope that I can be like her by being kind and always bringing joy to those around me.