Marilyn Virginia Sidles Streiff Bay

Marilyn Virginia Sidles Streiff Bay, age 88, died in hospice care on September 18, 2014. Born October 19, 1925, the only daughter of Peter and Selma Sidles, she grew up with her four brothers on her family’s farm in southern Iowa. After high school graduation, she began nurse training during the war years, intending to serve in the Women’s Army Corps as a nurse. She married Warren Streiff, a fellow Iowan from her hometown, after the war ended, and the couple began married life, with Marilyn as a nurse in a Lutheran hospital and Warren as a civil engineer with the Pennsylvania Railroad. Their first daughter was born in 1948, quickly followed by two more daughters and a son, and much later, a fourth daughter. Marilyn postponed her nursing career to concentrate on family life. Warren and Marilyn and their growing family lived in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia, finally settling in Malvern, Pennsylvania for ten years, where Marilyn returned to nursing until her fifth child was born. After Warren’s death from cancer in 1971, Marilyn resumed nursing in hospitals and nursing homes while raising the two children still living at home. Marilyn married Frank Bay in 1983, and retired from nursing. The couple moved to Venice, Florida where Frank died just three years later. Marilyn stayed in her adopted state for the remaining thirty years of her life. She entertained frequent, annual visits from her five grown children and their families, as well as friends from northern states. During the summer, she traveled north for visits. Marilyn suffered a stroke in 2011, requiring a move to assisted living at Village on the Isles in Venice, where she lived until her death. Raised in the Midwest during the depression years, Marilyn was practical and thrifty, but never stingy. She was independent, and content to fend for herself. An enthusiastic do-it-yourselfer, she painted her house, repaired her roof, replaced her car brake pads, plumbed her water leaks, tiled her floors, and reupholstered furniture for herself and others.. She encouraged everyone to do the same and was incredulous that anyone would hire a professional to do such work. Marilyn had a quiet gift for making and keeping friends. She always offered help to others, while rarely requesting help herself. She was sociable without being talkative. She loved all kinds of games and puzzles - card games, word games, outdoor games - and she retained her competitive spirit to the very end of her long life. Marilyn endured the tragedies of family illness and death with quiet fortitude, stoicism, and resilience. Her motto could have been “Carry on,” but she was not inclined to talk about beliefs or emotions. To her, what she did was more important than what she said. She simply lived her creed. Steady as a rock, she was kind, reliable, courageous, modest, and loyal. Marilyn had many interests of long duration, and she was almost entirely self- taught. She played clarinet in the Venice Concert Band and handbells in her church choir; she took up quilting with great enthusiasm; she patrolled Venice Beach for turtle nests; she bowled, played bridge, and bicycled five miles every day until her stroke. A lifelong Methodist, she was dedicated to the Grace United Methodist Church in Venice, where she spent many hours on church activities. Marilyn's two husbands died before her. Three of her four brothers, Howard Sidles, Harry Sidles, and James Sidles, preceded her in death. Her fourth brother, Peter Sidles, lives in Oswego, Illinois. She is survived by her five children: Ann Kalat and husband Ed; Linda Hoch and husband Ted; Patti Diament and husband Joe; David Streiff and wife Libet; and Susan Streiff and partner Cathy Burmeister. Marilyn had eight grandchildren who always delighted her: Matt, Jill, Casey, Susannah, Alli, Julia, Cole, and Kerry. Finally, she had eight great-grandchildren: Ania, Felix, Bailey, Sam, Alden, Marina, Corbin, and Kendall. A service will be held at 2 PM, Sunday, September 21st at the Grace United Methodist Church, 400 E. Field Avenue, in Venice, Florida. The family thanks the kind, caring staff at Village on the Isle, Dr. Richard Diamond and Grace Pastor James Mitchell. Service Information Date: Sunday, September 21, 2014 Time: 2:00 pm Grace United Methodist Church Address: 400 East Field Avenue, , Venice, FL, 34285 | Map