Max and Marilyn spent much of their lives living and working in Ashland County. Max was born and raised in a very large family in Spartanburg, IN., graduated from Spartanburg High School, and the Gale Institute in Minnesota. Following graduation from Gale he was hired to work on the B&O Railroad, which brought him to Ohio. He continued to work on the railroad through various corporate mergers before retiring from CSX after 43 years. Shortly after being hired on the railroad, Max was drafted into the US Army. He was sent to South Korea to train soldiers in code prior to the Vietnam War. Following discharge from the army he returned to Ashland and his work on the railroad. He was a member of the Brotherhood of Railway and Airline Clerks, the American Legion, the National Association of Retired and Veteran Railway Employees Unit 144, and Christ Community Evangelical Free Church. He was an avid golfer, a former club champion at Rolling Acres golf course. Marilyn graduated from Mapleton High School, Kent State University, then The Ohio State University where she obtained a Master’s degree in Social Work in the areas of health and mental health. Although she worked in various Social Work roles in other counties, following marriage, she and Max moved to Savannah, Ohio. Marilyn was the Director of the Ashland County Council on Aging when the building project on Third Street was planned and initiated, then worked at Samaritan Regional Health system for nearly 28 years as the Director of Social Services and Discharge Planning. She also worked as a therapist in private mental health practice. Throughout her career she served in various capacities on multiple boards of area service agencies. She loved founding and working on community projects including as a study committee chair for hospice services, which eventually became Hospice of North Central Ohio, Critical Incident Stress Team of Ashland and Richland County for Emergency and Health Care providers, founding board of Appleseed Community Mental Health Center, Employee Assistance Program at Samaritan, and others. One very active role was at the Women’s Fund of the Ashland County Community Foundation, working with other members of the Women’s Fund on the Childcare Initiative, which brought about Foundations Community Childcare, Inc. Marilyn was twice voted as the Ohio Society of Health Care Social Workers Social Worker of the Year. She received the Lucille G. Ford Freedom from Selfishness Award in 2025. Marilyn is currently a member of the Women’s Fund of the Ashland County Community Foundation, the National Association of Social Workers, the Case Management Society of America, and is the Secretary of the National Association of Retired and Veteran Railway Workers, Unit 144. Both Max and Marilyn learned from very young ages the importance of hard work and saving – he in his large family in rural Indiana, she working in her mother’s restaurant. They also learned the importance of giving and the joy of sharing. Max and Marilyn have established four separate ACCF funds that include a Charitable Fund for the benefit of the Cat House Feline Sanctuary, Inc., Back to the Wild, and The OSU Stone Laboratory – Gibraltar Island; a Scholarship Fund for College Seniors; an Alzheimer’s and Dementia Community Education Fund; and a Childcare Tuition Assistance Fund.

Darlene was a member of St. Edward Catholic Church. She taught art classes at St. Edward School for 10 years. Darlene was also an aide at Montgomery, Lincoln, and St. Edward School. She volunteered at Samaritan Hospital for over 20 years and she also worked at the St. Edward Hunger Center for roughly the same amount of time.

Darlene was a teacher, a decorator, and an artist during her lifetime, but her true passion was being a wife to Melvin and sharing their love of the Ashland community in which they enjoyed such a wonderful life with their family and friends. Her contribution to the Ashland County Community Foundation was her way of seeing to the continuation of the great things that they had witnessed in their lives here in Ashland and for the continuation of Ashland’s promising future.

Prepared 2022.