Marilyn Price Voss - Obituary

arilyn Elizabeth Price Voss died on Tuesday, April 24, 2018, after a life lived with energy and determination. Born in 1936 in Wichita, Kansas, Marilyn was proud of her Midwestern upbringing and traditional values. She graduated from St. Mary's High School in 1954, won a scholarship to college, and boarded a train to Washington, DC, having never seen the East Coast. At Catholic University of America, Marilyn majored in Drama, earning Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees. She joined the U.S. Department of Defense as a residence counselor in Army high schools abroad. Upon arriving in Poitiers, France in 1962, she was met by a man with blue eyes and a Volkswagen Beetle to match: Dale Voss, her supervisor and, unbeknownst to her, future husband. When she returned stateside, Marilyn became head of the Drama Department at Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda, Maryland. Dale, too, moved to the Washington area, and they soon were engaged. Married in 1966, they had Mary Elisabeth "Marelise" in 1969. In 1970, they moved to Macomb, Illinois, and, in 1978, had Katherine Anne. Marilyn was active in St. Paul’s Parish, and earned a Master’s in Public Communication and Broadcasting from Western Illinois University in 1990. A distance-learning pioneer, she taught Advanced Placement courses to high-school students over the TI-IN television network. The family moved back to Maryland in 1993, settling in Annapolis. Marilyn taught English at Glen Burnie High School and Anne Arundel Community College, and was devoted to St. Mary’s Parish and Catholic Daughters of America. Marilyn was known for patriotism, faith, and charity. A civil rights activist, she attended the March on Washington and heard Martin Luther King, Jr. deliver “I Have a Dream”; she is listed on the Maryland civil rights memorial. She helped Vietnamese refugees resettle in America, organized yearly caravans of donated goods to schools in Appalachia, and crafted rosaries for troops stationed abroad with Ranger Rosary. Marilyn was preceded in death by her husband, Dale Voss. She is survived by her daughters, Marelise Voss, her husband, James Soriano, and their first-grader, Jacob; and Katherine Voss and her fiancé, Christian Elkington. Friends may call on Friday, May 18 from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. at the Kalas Funeral Home, 2973 Solomons Island Road, Edgewater, MD. Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Saturday, May 19 at 10:30 a.m. at St. Mary’s Catholic Church, 109 Duke of Gloucester Street, Annapolis. Interment will follow at St. Mary's Cemetery in Annapolis. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to Ranger Rosary, P.O. Box 6581, Annapolis, MD 21401 or Catholic Daughters of America, ℅ Susan Skinner, 2196 Glenfield Road, Annapolis, MD 21403 or The Johns Hopkins Fund for Medicine, 750 East Pratt Street 17th Floor, Baltimore, MD 21202, specifying Dr. Susan Bressler, who saved Marilyn’s eyesight. Condolences may be made by accessing the tab on the left side of this page.