Marsha Snow Dean died on March 24 in Miami, Florida, after living bravely for six years with multiple myeloma. She was 75.

Shortly after her birth as Marsha Gienine Snow in Portland, Oregon, her mother took her to be with family in Detroit, Michigan, before the two finally settled in Miami in 1952. While a student at Southwest Miami Senior High School, Marsha took a job as a telephone operator with Southern Bell, which led to a 34-year telecommunications career.

During those years, she had the chance to travel in Europe with friends, met Charles Dean, whom she married on January 31, 1975, bought a home in West Kendall, and brought into the world the other two loves of her life, her sons Danny and Ryan (1979 and 1986).

Marsha followed her 1997 retirement with a new job as a secretary with Miles Moss & Associates in 2001. She remained there until the first of her two cancer challenges, colon cancer, required her permanent retirement in 2007.

Having beaten colon cancer, Marsha was diagnosed in 2016 with multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer. She lived with the disease for many years, receiving a successful stem cell transplant in 2017, several courses of chemotherapy, and ongoing support from her cancer team, before its progression led to her courageous decision in March to end treatment and accept rest.

Throughout her life, Marsha was both resilient and selfless. Her experience as the only child of a single mother who worked long hours cemented these qualities in her early. Whether it was working nights at midcareer, raising two strong-willed, accident-prone boys, renting an RV to take one son to visit the other at college, or taking on cancer twice, there was nothing she couldn’t do. Her selflessness was on constant display as well, from Sunday school teaching and AWANA involvement over many years, to caring for her own aging mother, to showering two daughters-in-law with love at every single birthday and anniversary, to giving generously to friends and family in need.

Despite those obligations, Marsha did manage self-care, which often took the form of travel with family and friends to the Keys, on Caribbean cruises, to the Smoky Mountains, and many summers to Ft. Myers. But it also took the form of a faith in God that deepened over the years as challenges mounted. Though much of her faith life was through private prayer and study, she enjoyed support from a consistent network of godly women, especially in recent years.

Her self-care also took the form of strange and wonderful coffee concoctions, often involving marshmallows, chocolate, and various other additives, whose recipes changed over time but which provided simple but predictable and necessary moments of bliss.

Marsha is predeceased by her father, Marshall Hill Snow (1948), and mother, Helen Hinds Snow (1996). She is survived by her husband, Charles Dean, son and daughter-in-law Danny and Andrea Dean of Elkhart, Indiana, and son and daughter-in-law Ryan and Julie Dean of Miami and their 1½-year-old son Hunter, a tremendous source of joy for Marsha.

The family extends heartfelt gratitude to Maria Rios, dedicated caregiver since 2017.

A memorial service will be held at Wayside Baptist Church on Saturday, April 9, at 10:00 a.m. The memorial is open to all, interment service will be private.

Those who wish to give are encouraged to make donations in Marsha’s name to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (www.lls.org) which provided Marsha a support group that walked together through the experience of multiple myeloma.

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