Marilyn Hope Goetz Button Powell

Marilyn Hope Goetz Button Powell

Marilyn Hope Goetz Button Powell was born on August 18, 1953, in Spokane, WA. She passed peacefully with family on April 20, 2025, at Coulee Medical Center in Grand Coulee after a courageous battle with Multiple Sclerosis.

Marilyn is survived by her partner of 29 years Keith Powell, sons Richard (Mandi) Button and Ted (EmmaLee) Button, and her grandchildren Luke, Lilly, Alex and Hope.  Siblings Daniel Goetz and Ellen Minkes, half-sisters, Tawnya and Michelle, as well as numerous loving nieces and nephews.  Marilyn was preceded in death by her parents Bud Goetz and Doris Mills, brothers Kim and Rick.

As a child Marilyn enjoyed summers of freedom, frolicking and playing with her siblings and cousins on their Grandma and Papa Starkels Ranch in Del Rio, WA. On those warm summer days in the country, she developed an intense love of nature and animals. As a child, her family lived in Harline, WA where she attended school until eventually moving to Grand Coulee in 1968.

Marilyn's natural beauty got noticed soon after moving to the area. Normally reserved in character, she was talked into competing by friends and was elected Miss Grand Coulee in 1970. For the talent portion of the contest, she chose a reading of the poem "On Children" by Kahlil Gibran.

After high school graduation in 1971,  Marilyn received a scholarship to and attended beauty school in Spokane, WA. Eventually, she decided this was not for her and returned home to Grand Coulee. She took a job in bookkeeping and customer service at the body shop on Main Street in Grand Coulee and this is where she met Lee Button, whose family had a business on Main St., they were married on September 19th, 1973.

The young couple moved to Ellensburg, WA to attend Central Washington University, both to become school teachers. While enjoying college life they eventually welcomed two sons, Richard in July of 1976 and Ted in June of 1979, both while living in campus housing at CWU. Marilyn attended college while raising her young boys and eventually earned her teaching degree in early childhood education and went on to do her student teaching at Central's Campus Elementary School. Lee and Marilyn lived in Ellensburg for seven years before deciding to move back to the Grand Coulee area.

After returning home, she worked as a Substitute Teacher in the Grand Coulee School District. Eventually deciding she wanted to dedicate herself to being a stay-at-home mother to her sons. Raising her boys and maintaining a home for her family was her priority, passing on her love of gardening and animals, home-cooked meals, canning and all the wonderful things nature provides. She also enjoyed artwork, oil painting and sewing.

Marilyn and Lee separated in 1990 after 17 years of marriage and eventually, she remarried Keith Powell on June 1st, 1996.

Marilyn managed Keith's shows all around Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana. They traveled, sold Keith's art, enjoyed life and developed many dear and lifelong friendships along the way.

Eventually wanting to work closer to home she got a job at KEYG Radio station which included bookwork, ad buys and advertising voice-over work for many artists of that time, including the Dixie Chicks. Marilyn took a job at the Grand Coulee pharmacy and eventually moved on to Coulee Community Hospital where she worked in the Medical Records department. She was happy in this position, enjoying the work and her fellow employees and it was at this job some of her early symptoms were noticed by colleagues and friends.

Marilyn was officially diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis on September 11th, 2001.

Their lives continued around her disease. She saw sons marry and grandchildren be born, she was always around to help the families with the kids when needed. Wheelchair rides were plentiful. She enjoyed passing down her love of nature and critters to the kids at their house in the country and it was in those early years the strongest bonds were made. Coffee and educated political discussion were always on the docket at her home, she cared deeply about the world she was leaving her kids and they would be leaving theirs.

In 2014  Marilyn and Keith made the difficult decision to move her into long-term care at the Nespelem Convalescent Center where she could get the full-time care she needed. Marilyn's stay at Nespelem was fairly short and she eventually was able to move closer to family after being accepted into Coulee Medical Centers Long Term Care.

For the next decade, Marilyn enjoyed lots of visits, home-cooked meals and weekly play dates with the grandkids, Luke, Lilly, Alex and Hope. They enjoyed trips to the activity room for crafting, and bird watching on her numerous and always stocked feeders, the deer ate well at her window as well. Her service dog Ed, even made some visits.

Marilyn meant so much to so many people over the years and this was very apparent during her last days by a steady stream of people paying their respects. Sharing how she quietly had impacted their lives and how much she meant to them. The staff at CMC became extended family to Marilyn over the years. We are so thankful for the care and accommodations they provided her and her family during her 10-plus year stay at CMC. Her room became an extension of herself, decorated and filled with family photos, plants, art, and knick-knacks. It was an ongoing joke with staff "that they barely had the room for her care".

This disease, while she handled it with dignity and grace, she knew exactly how much it had stolen from her over the years. It was important for her to help others avoid her fate as best she could. Marilyn's "shell" as she would call it, was donated to Multiple Sclerosis  Medical Research and she will continue in helping science help others in their battles with this terrible disease.