Evergreen Audubon members and literally hundreds of friends were shocked and deeply saddened to learn of Marilyn Rhodes’ sudden and unexpected passing in November.  We share some of the wonderful tributes we have received with hopes that they bring a happy memory to your mind and a smile to your face.

Karen Groves writes:

A lover of life and intrepid birder has left the physical world.

I met Marilyn Rhodes years ago during a march in Denver where crowds were chanting and holding signs and wearing funny hats. It was an atmosphere of excitement and energy, fueled by a crowd breathing the kind of oxygen Marilyn preferred. The kind that said, “Let’s have fun with this!”

Our group set out that morning from the Bergen Park ‘n’ Ride lot in Evergreen. We tried to stay together, but caught up in the flow of surging humanity, we got separated. Eventually we reconvened at Union Station to return home. The air was cold, but the sense of civic pride had a communal glow. Bundled in puffy jackets, we squeezed into seats that faced each other. With Marilyn there, conversation was easy and laughter was contagious.

Upon our return to the parking lot, I discovered I’d locked myself out of my car. Marilyn offered to give me a ride. We talked about the day’s event and how it felt to live in Evergreen and . . .  our dogs.

Of course, that wasn’t the only encounter. There she was swaddled in vest, binoculars, and cameras at Evergreen Lake, conducting a birding tour. There she was at the Garden Club. There she was in a Santa hat hugging her pets. There she was counting geese in Washington Park or consoling friends at a memorial for a beloved community member. She took friends to the theater and concerts. Champagne anyone?

Marilyn was the wreath lady for Evergreen Audubon. She was an accomplished photographer and leader of songs. Unafraid to kick up her heels. Devoted to friends, who were many. Everyone has a story. Marilyn’s will not be forgotten.

Linda Lyle was a close friend of Marilyn’s. In November Linda wrote:

It’s been a very sad few days. I lost a good friend very suddenly. I’ve been trying to keep my mind busy because when I think of Marilyn I get choked up. I’m still in denial and I can hear her voice (a mid-western/Oklahoma twang) so clearly in my mind she can’t possibly be gone.

Marilyn was larger than life. She was the life of the party. She was unapologetic. She didn’t sit around waiting for life to happen…she made life happen! She had so many passions in life, and she made the time to be active in every one of them…from photography to birding to traveling to the theater and concerts to gardening to Outlander. There was always room in Marilyn’s life for one more friend. Always room in an outing/activity for one more person. She included everyone in her activities.

Rob and I loved to join her for dim sum for Chinese New Year. She’d organize reservations for 40 or more of her closest friends. I would never have gone to so many concerts and theater shows if Marilyn hadn’t frequently called when she had an extra ticket. And she frequently had an extra ticket because she always bought 2-4 tickets to everything and rotated through her many, many friends to come along.

Don’t get me started on gardening and garden tours! She never lacked for company. Marilyn supported you when you were up and she supported you when you were down. She would push you out of your comfort zone to be better. Or she’d give you a verbal swift kick in the ass.

She supported so many charities with her time and money. She especially loved rescues and adopted all of her fur babies. Some of them difficult, older, or sickly pets that no one else wanted. She left 5 fur babies behind. There are already wonderful people working to find them loving homes. I imagine she’s having quite the reunion over the rainbow bridge right now. Marilyn traveled all over the world.

I always looked forward to seeing Marilyn’s pictures. She was an incredible photographer and she went to so many beautiful places in the world. The last few years were hard for her having her wings clipped by the pandemic. She had plans in 2023 to make up for that. Marilyn was very active on social media. I could always count on seeing numerous posts on Facebook every day sharing her strong beliefs. Marilyn is someone who leaves a mark on your life. I am really going to miss her. She will be missed by so many. My condolences to her family who are still processing her loss.

Jeff Emery, another one of Marilyn’s neighbors and friends, wrote specifically about her love of children.

Someone said: “you can pick your friends, but not your family. Nor your neighbors.” Well, my wife and I won the neighbor lottery with Marilyn.

Fittingly, my clearest photos of her highlight her left ear… peering into a telescope and sharing her love of birds with our young boys. She faithfully appeared at youth musicals to cheer (and endure) their shows. She magically helped us complete our family set of Hamilton tix. She arranged for Rocky Mountain Academy of Evergreen students to work the soil and grow real vegetables — even when the community garden powerbrokers questioned their childish commitment.

Marilyn was my ”name that bird app” — and I must now remember the difference between hawk and falcon without her help.

We miss knowing that she might be gazing across our yard from the hill next door. This introvert can only dream of someday making such an impact on our mountain community as did Marilyn.

RIP, neighbor.

And finally, we share excerpts from a 2013 article by Steve Knapp from the website “Just Around Here.com.”

Marilyn loves birds, you see. She also loves live musical theater, gardening, photography and Shakespeare outdoors on a thick green lawn. But, even as a child, Marilyn’s heart was ever given to the creatures of the air.

“Growing up in Oklahoma, I’d always been interested in wildlife,” she says. “Oklahoma has the best raptors you’ll ever see.”

Although personally satisfying, bird appreciation doesn’t necessarily pay very well, so Marilyn enrolled at University of Oklahoma in Oklahoma City. She studied economics and finance, earned her MBA, and became a certified public accountant.

“In the 60s, one of the few things women could compete with men in was accounting.”

She spent the next 25 years working the books for Hertz Corporation, ending her tenure as the operations manager for the company’s DIA facility.

Marilyn’s avian fascination really took wing in 1989 when she moved to Evergreen and ran across celebrated local naturalist Sylvia Brockner’s column in the Canyon Courier. Before she knew it, Marilyn was hip-deep in The Evergreen Naturalist Audubon Society (now Evergreen Audubon) and soaking up everything she could about the mountain area’s native plant and animal species.

In 1995 she moved her professional flag up the hill to Aramark Educational Systems in Genesee and, ten years later following a successful battle against breast cancer, settled in with the Mentor Financial Group working from home. It wasn’t until she closed her ledger for the last time in 2011 that she realized she’d been charting an uphill course all along.

“I’d been moving closer to home, to Evergreen,” laughs Marilyn. “And as I moved closer, it freed up more time to do other things.”

Marilyn used some of that new-found leisure becoming a Master Gardener through Jefferson County Extension and co-founding the experimental group Foothills Organic Gardeners. She found time to employ her hard-won Wildlife Master credential manning Jeffco’s wildlife conflict line. But Marilyn devoted her best time to the birds, immersing herself in Jeffco’s rigorous Master Bird Program.

“It’s an amazing – a college-level – class. You don’t just learn how to identify birds, you learn their seasonal plumage, their behaviors, their habitat – you become sort of a citizen-scientist.”

Marilyn has traveled across the United States and into Mexico seeking quiet communion with birds of a different feather and sailed far into the Pacific Ocean to get a first-hand look at curious species that dwell upon the water. When Marilyn’s not taking in a show on the Denver Botanic Gardens lawn, or off on a photo-safari, she might be teaching newbies the ABCs of birding at Evergreen Nature Center or guiding groggy birders on a sunrise tour for Denver Audubon.

And when she’s not spending a sunny afternoon with Joan Baez at Chautauqua Park in Boulder, you might find her digging at the Evergreen Community Garden in Buchanan Park. “In the lottery I got two plots,” she says. “I’ll work one, and the other one I donated to Rocky Mountain Academy.”

Fact is, birds of a feather really do flock together, and Marilyn’s loves birders almost as much as she does the objects of their affection. “Birders are a really friendly, generous community, and people from all walks of life are drawn to this crazy hobby.”

Crazy?

“I lead night-time owling expeditions,” she grins. “Not that many people go prowling around the woods at night making owl sounds.”

Marilyn served on the Evergreen Audubon Board, volunteered at Evergreen Nature Center, wrote regular monthly columns for the Dipper for many years, hosted birding trips and of course, single handedly ran Evergreen Audubon’s annual holiday wreath sales for more than 25 years, bringing thousands of fundraising dollars to “the club,” as Marilyn always called Evergreen Audubon.

Thank you, Marilyn for everything you did for Evergreen Audubon. You are missed.