Marilyn Sue Castle Blevins

On Saturday, March 28, 2020, our courageous and much loved Marilyn, wife, daughter, baby sister, teacher, and friend, walked into heaven to meet her Dad and sister Teresa. She was at home in Ardmore and was surrounded by her loving family as she completed her journey. Marilyn was born on February 11, 1964, the eighth and last child and seventh daughter of James and Margaret Castle. She grew up in Ardmore, Oklahoma, graduating from Ardmore High School in 1982, and then from East Central University in 1986 with a degree in Elementary Education. She began her career as a first grade teacher at North Moore Elementary in Moore, OK, for five years. On July 6, 1991, she married Jim Blevins in Ardmore, and they began their life together in Texarkana, TX. She began her Texas teaching career at Pleasant Grove Elementary where she taught first, second, third, and fourth grade for 18 years with her best friends Cynthia, Jeanette, Cindy, Betsy, Cary, and Kim, and so many others who laughed so much with her and shared their funny stories with all of us. She later moved to Red Lick Elementary and taught there for 8 years. Marilyn was an exceptional and beloved teacher to hundreds of children, and a wonderful friend and colleague to so many over her career. As she and Jim prepared for retirement in 2017 after a 31 year teaching career, she was diagnosed with cancer for the second time, and fought valiantly for the last three years with her beloved Dr. Mouhammed Habra of MD Anderson Hospital in Houston. In the last year she taught English and reading to her Guatemalan kids at Westlawn Elementary in Texarkana, affectionately known as her G-kids, which she described as the most rewarding time of her teaching career. Her life with Jim was one of beautiful love and devotion to each other, and a full circle of loving friends and colleagues in Texarkana. She and Jim traveled to Rome and Hawaii, but she especially loved her summers at Bear Lake in Michigan with Jim's family, and coming home to Ardmore to spend time with her mom and talking to her on the phone every night for the last twenty eight years. She loved Thanksgivings in Ardmore with her Castle family, all 40+ of them. Her lifelong friendship with her extra sister, Debby Holloway Price, was a special joy to her, and they shared hours of laughter and fun together. She was preceded in death by her father Jim in 1988 and her sister Teresa in 2011. Surviving family are her loving husband of 28 years, Jim, of Wake Village, TX; her mother, Margaret Castle of Ardmore; stepdaughter Brandy Glovier (Bobby) and grandsons Alex and Conner of Kentucky; her sisters; Nancy Etheredge, Susan Dibrell (Bill), Cathy Gray, Melanie Brown (Lee), and Caroline Clardy (Ted), and brother Jim Castle (Carol), all of Ardmore and Edmond; and her brother-in-law and sister-in-law Don and Pam Kingery of Kalamazoo, MI. In addition, she is survived by numerous nieces and nephews. Private family services and burial will be held in Ardmore with Rev. Gary Kastl of her family and Rev. Kevin Ratterman officiating. At later dates, a Funeral Mass will be held at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Ardmore, and a memorial service will be also held at Williams Memorial Methodist Church in Texarkana, TX. In lieu of flowers, memorials in Marilyn's name may be made to the Megan Mauldin Scholarship Fund/Megan's Love for the Cure Fund at the Red River Credit Union Branch on Richmond Road in Texarkana, TX; Cross Timbers Hospice 207 C Street NW; or to Catholic Charities. Online condolences may be made online at craddockfuneralhome.com.