SHARON — Marilyn “Honey” Syriac Mullins, died April 6, 2024, at Vassar Brothers Hospital in Poughkeepsie, due to complications from a fall. She was one month shy of her 91st birthday and was greatly enjoying her life.
Born on May 4, 1933, to Amelia Pogel Syriac and Alfred Edmund Syriac of Westfield, Massachusetts, she was also the loving stepdaughter of Roland Syriac, and was the youngest of five children. She was predeceased by her brother, Franklin (Bob) Syriac, her sisters Mildred Gorham Benjamin, Alfreda Benz, and Shirley Arnold, as well as her husband Francis Edward Mullins.
After graduating from Westfield High School, class of 1951, Marilyn attended the Charles F. Gaugh School of Business. She graduated with honors and became a legal secretary. In Springfield, Massachusetts she worked at the law firm of Allen, Yerrel, Appleton and Thompson as Horace Allen’s secretary.
In 1959, she married the illustrator Frank Mullins at Saint Michael’s Cathedral in Springfield. The couple moved to Manhattan, where they lived happily for several years. There she became the secretary of R. Birdell Bixby, close associate of Governors Thomas E. Dewey and Nelson Rockefeller, at the law firm of Dewey, Ballantine, Bushby, Palmer and Wood.
After the birth of their second child, Marilyn moved with Frank and his elderly father from the city to the country so their kids might enjoy the same kind of childhood that she’d had. Visits with friends in the Lime Rock area eventually led Marilyn to her beloved house in Sharon, where she raised her three children and lived her life for 57 years.
In Sharon, she and Frank became involved with the Sharon Creative Arts Foundation (SCAF, now the Sharon Playhouse). Marilyn led Brownie Troop 190 and volunteered at the Sharon Hospital and Sharon Audubon Center, as well as working various secretarial jobs including office manager at Skip Barber Racing School and at Uberti, USA. She also taught piano lessons. She put her children through local schools, public and private, sent her daughter to college, and managed to hold on to her home following the death of her young husband from cancer in 1978.
Marilyn was a musician. She loved classical music and began playing the piano at the age of 3. She started her professional music career playing for a dance school while in her early teens. In the late 1970’s she learned to play the organ from local legend Al Sly and worked as an organist in churches all over the region, up until the Covid-19 pandemic. She most enjoyed playing pipe organs and she dearly loved her choirs.
In 1995, Marilyn graduated from the Connecticut Center for Massage Therapy and began a decades-long career as a massage therapist, working at the Interlaken Inn and volunteering for Hospice care. She believed in the healing power of loving touch.
Marilyn leaves behind her children; Christopher, Jonathan and Patricia Mullins, and a dear daughter-in-law, Michelle Shipp; five grandchildren; David Parker Mullins, Nakaia Kristof, Frank, Sam and Felix Mullins, and her beloved nephews and nieces, and many dear friends. She also leaves her beloved cats, Piper and Cooper. Marilyn was “Second Mom” to many of her children’s friends. She was the dear friend, confidante and champion of her children and many others and will be very deeply missed.
Marilyn and Patty had planned to travel to see the total eclipse of the sun on April 8. In honor and memory of her, Patty, Jon, Chris and Michelle made the drive the day after her death and watched the full eclipse from the shore of Lake Ontario
A celebration of Marilyn’s life will be held in Connecticut at a date to be determined. The family may be contacted at marilynmullins24@gmail.com. We welcome your stories and memories of Marilyn.
The family wishes to thank mom’s dear helper, Nora Mullen, Chore Service, and the Sharon Ambulance Squad, as well as the doctors and nurses at Sharon Hospital ER and Vassar Brothers ICU.In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial donations be made to Core Service or The Little Guild animal shelter in Cornwall, CT.
The Kenny Funeral Home has care of arrangements
Donald Polk learned circular breathing by watching a YouTube video.Photo by Sava Marinkovic
