Marilyn Uhlig Skipton Groth, of Killingworth and Haddam, Conn., died Sept. 13, a few weeks before her 91st birthday. Born in Springfield, Mass. on Oct. 8, 1925 to Max R. and Katherine Uhlig, Marilyn was a graduate of Classical High School and the Springfield Hospital School of Nursing.
Her life was spent in the service of others: as a burn-unit nurse at Shriner’s Hospital for Children, as a troop leader and regional board member for the Girl Scouts of America, as the Executive Director of the YWCA in Springfield, and as the Executive Director of Sojourn, Inc., a social services agency for teen girls in Northampton, Mass.
Marilyn was an avid reader who loved music, art, history, and gardening. An advocate for healthy living, she was a participant in the Harvard Nurses Study. She spent her later years compiling a family genealogy, tracing her relatives to early 19th century Germany. She enjoyed attending concerts and museums and just two days before her death, completed a children’s story dedicated to her great-grandson.
Predeceased by her first husband, Malcolm K. Skipton Jr., Marilyn and “Jim” made their home for almost 43 years in Hampden, Mass. where she served as a community volunteer, member of the garden club, and was a parishioner at Faith United Church in Springfield.
Marilyn moved to Killingworth, Conn. in 1993 where she joined the garden club and was appointed to a regional council on aging. She married Ernest Henry Groth, previously of Newington, Conn., in 1999. They summered for many years on Pemaquid Pond in Bremen, and had recently moved to the Saybrook at Haddam in Haddam, Conn. where they enjoyed reading and painting together and visiting with new acquaintances.
She was predeceased by a granddaughter, Gillian Taylor Long.
Marilyn is survived by a family that loved and admired her: her husband, Ernest Henry Groth; children, Malcolm K. Skipton III and wife Deborah A. Geer, MD of Auburn, N.Y., Allyson Skipton Long and husband William J. Long III of Killingworth, Conn., and Beth Marie Skipton of Killingworth, Conn.; grandchildren, Courtney Skipton Long, PhD of Cos Cob, Conn., Gregory Patrick Skipton and wife Kate Skipton, MD of Watertown, N.Y., Erica Skipton, MD of Sayre, Penn., and Kelsey Marie Long Paff and husband Jeremy Patrick Paff of Yardley, Penn.; and great-grandson, Nathanael Stephen Paff of Yardley, Penn.
She is also survived by step-children, Stephen Groth of Viroqua, Wis., Janet Groth and husband James Turner of Manchester, Mass., and Marlene Dolan and husband Christopher Dolan of Manchester, Mass.; and step-grandchildren, Helena Turner of Cambridge, Mass., Patrick Turner of Portland, Taylor Dolan and wife Nadya Ramierez-Dolan of Brookline, Mass., Lyndsay Dolan of Marblehead, Mass., and Bennett Dolan of Manchester, Mass.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Killingworth Land Conservation Trust, P.O. Box 825, Killingworth, CT 06419; or the Shriner’s Hospital for Children, 516 Carew St., Springfield, MA 01104.
Friends are invited to a graveside service at 2 p.m., Sat., Sept. 17 at the Old Cemetery, Chapin Rd., Hampden, Mass.
To share a memory or leave a message of condolence for the family, please visit www.GuilfordFuneralHome.com
Arrangements in care of the Guilford Funeral Home, 115 Church St., Guilford, Conn.