Dawn Charyl Marker's Obituary
It is with broken hearts that we announce the unexpected passing of our beloved Dawn Charyl Marker, 47, in Palm Harbor, FL due to natural causes. Many of us called her “Dee” as shorthand since the Jersey way of saying Dawn, as her older sister Stacy learned it, required two syllables (Daw-wuhn). She had an adventurous (mischievous) spirit that included skating on the roof of our family Jeep and an enduring love of fast roller coasters. Dawn had a lifelong love of animals, sometimes as pets (dogs – particularly Bassets, cats, chinchillas, ferrets, hermit crabs, frogs, lizards…) and others as prey (crabs and fish). She loved amusement parks, zoos, hiking, kayaking, horror movies (Stephen King being a go-to), Hallmark Christmas movies, Harry Potter, the Supernatural TV series, Howard Stern, attending concerts, and Anthony Bourdain. Due to her sister’s own enthusiasm, she gained a later-in-life love of women’s soccer. While some people enjoy a good lottery scratcher, Dee went for the most complicated ones believing they had better odds of winning, which proved wise, as she once had a $10,000 success.
Dawn spent about half of her life as a northerner, with a brief stint in Virginia, and the rest of her life in Florida. Dawn loved snow and hated being hot. So, as you can imagine, Florida was not her jam, but she stuck it out for love (and manatees). Once her mom, Donna, moved from Delaware to two blocks away to bond with her youngest eight years ago, they became besties, spending many Saturday afternoons together doing pottery, going to parks, museums, and other “cultural enrichment” activities as Dawn called them. Dee had dreamed of living in the Pacific Northwest, but lately was looking to go back to PA (pronounced Pee-ay, folks, we don’t say Pennsylvania), and was making sure Mom would come with her or be nearby.
While in Florida, Dawn got into all things Florida sports – Gators, Bucs, Lightning (hockey, in case you didn’t know either). Her green thumb thrived with magical abilities to grow things from nothing, bring plants back to life, and take beautiful pictures of her successes. Her career was in various aspects of business – customer service, technical support, sales, management, and compliance. She got her sales and compulsive organizational chops from her dad, Bruce, and love of animals and plants from her mom.
Despite being adventurous in some ways, Dawn was cautious with people. But once she warmed up to you, she kept you coming back for her laugh, sweetness, kindness, and amazing capacity for forgiveness. She was the one who stuck up for the underdog. In addition to being involved in chorus, band, and orchestra, Dawn was quite the artist growing up, but moved onto other interests as an adult. However, this talent was not lost, as evidenced by her recently being one of the very rare people who attended a painting and wine event in which her creation actually matched the teacher’s.
She tried hard to stick around with us. She was diligent with doctors, meds, tracking of vitals and such, but with no definitive answers. With an array of confounding symptoms and allergic reactions, Dawn was often not believed, but she persevered. Alas…one’s body can fight only so long, despite the profound desire to stay living.
Dawn leaves many of us remembering her and holding her in our hearts. This includes her mom, Donna, and sister, Stacy. Her father Bruce and her Uncle Bill, as well as her grandparents, predeceased her. Other family members include her Uncle Ed (Maria), Uncle Jerry (Dick), Aunt Carol (Dick), cousins Jeremy
(Nicole), Jessica (Andrew), Kasey (Nick), Joe (Maria), Paul (Susan), Malcolm, Matt (Pam), Diana (David), and all of their children and grandchildren, and Basset children Lucy aka “Lulu” and Emma.
The only things she truly hated in life were bananas and being the center of attention. Despite this (we are sorry, Dee – but we have to honor your delightfulness), we will be having a Celebration of Life service for her at Moss Feaster Funeral Home, Dunedin, FL, at 11 am December 18th. This will be a casual service with an opening (not at all embarrassing if she were there) homage, followed by opportunities for anyone who wants to share their memories of Dawn (kindly – her sister will be eyeing you closely). The service will also be streamed at https://www.mossfeaster.com/. There will also be a video of pictures we feel would be photo-phobic Dawn-approved and with music she loved. In lieu of flowers, we ask for donations to Suncoast Basset Rescue (https://suncoastbassetrescue.org/ – where she got both Emma and Lucy) or Sea Turtle Conservancy (https://conserveturtles.org/ – donate or adopt a turtle! Her love of sea turtles began at a Folly Beach vacation with the other Marker women and continued with a recent reinvigorated love). There are also links online at Moss Feaster where you can digitally sign a registry and leave a memory.
Final notes:
Please let someone know what your cell phone PIN code is.
Found on a stack of stickie notes of random unedited musings in her handwriting: “What if God gives gifts but he doesn’t always let you know if it happens in split moments – the moments you think about”
Carpe diem. Pennies and chairs and chef hats.
A webcast is planned for Saturday 12/18 at 11 am. http://webcast.funeralvue.com/ event id # 65403 ,no password is required.
What’s your fondest memory of Dawn?
What’s a lesson you learned from Dawn?
Share a story where Dawn's kindness touched your heart.
Describe a day with Dawn you’ll never forget.
How did Dawn make you smile?