Following a prolonged illness with Alzheimer’s, Marilyn Villines, 79, passed away peacefully at Cleo’s Home, a residential care facility, on May 27, 2025, in Ripon, CA.
An Air Force brat, she was born in Mesa, Arizona on July 19, 1945, but she grew up on military bases in Arizona, Alaska, Texas, and California. Her family’s home base was always her grandpa Platt’s farm in Manteca, CA. She graduated from Manteca High School and while attending San Joaquin Delta College she tutored foreign exchange students from China.
She met the love of her life when her family joined a new church in Manteca. She and Wes Villines’ first date was a church sponsored Sweetheart Banquet on Valentine’s Day. Two years later they married. They were married 59 years.
Marilyn was a career secretary. She retired as a Confidential Assistant to the Acting Director of the Health Services Agency of Stanislaus County.
Marilyn loved children. She volunteered many hours working with infants in the church’s nursery. She loved reading books to her son. She often said the best years of her life was when she was raising her son. At a young age Marilyn gave her life to Christ and lived a quiet life of modesty and grace. Her husband says that in all the years he knew her, he could count on one hand the number of times she swore. And that was later in life, in private, and at him. Marilyn’s life was defined by dignity, virtue, humility and kindness. Wes said he has many reasons to believe in the existence of God, but the number one reason was because of the existence of Marilyn.
She is preceded in death by her parents, Staff Sergeant William Vernon Eggers and Myrtle Platt Eggers, her brother Staff Sergeant William Frederick Eggers, and her first-born baby boy.
She is survived by her husband Wes Villines, son John Villines and his wife Jammie, sister Pamela Carey, eight grandchildren, 16 great-grandchildren, and counting.
A Celebration of Life will be held at Ripon Grace Church, 734 W. Main St, Ripon, California on June 14, 2025, at 12 Noon. A social gathering for Marilyn’s family and friends will be held at the church immediately following the celebration.
Donations in Marilyn’s name can be made to the Foundation for African Medicine and Education (FAME), 4553 Crimsonwood Dr, Redding, CA, 96001, or Best Friends Animal Society, 5001 Angel Canyon Road, Kanab, UT, 96001
Manteca (Calif.) Bulletin
Friday, June 6, 2025
