Happy 80th Birthday, Aunt Marilyn!

This is quite an historic photograph, taken today!  My mother’s sister, my Aunt Marilyn Smuin Martell Beutler, turned 80, and all 5 of her children were together in one place for the first time in 15 years!    Pictured here are my cousins (left to right):  Stephen Paul, David Mark, Debra Sue, Robert Wells and Cheryl Lynn.

Aunt Marilyn was a beauty queen:                     

Marilyn married Wells Ferguson Martell in 1955.  They later divorced.
Here is her family in the 1970s when they lived in Thousand Oaks, CA:

And here is her second marriage to Lauren Beutler 1 July 1989:

Aunt Marilyn loved to cook and she’s written several cookbooks.  Cookies were her specialty.  She loved entering her cookies in the fair and always took home blue ribbons.  I’ll share some of my favorites when I’m home again and have them at my fingertips.

I’m pretty sure Aunt Marilyn, though in poor health for many years, has out-lived just about every one of her family members for several generations.  Happy 80th!!