Sharon Pugh
It was about 1970 when Marlene came into the Indiana University office in which I was an administrative assistant to be interviewed for a secretary’s position. I remember that she struck me as very intelligent, and I said to my boss, “I really like her.” Whether or not because of my endorsement, she got the job, and we became a high powered team, typing polished final copies with lightning speed and accuracy, both of us rattling away on our beloved Selectrics. Gradually I got to know her. When she first visited me, I was sharing a small trailer with two young cats, which was pretty well suffused with cat hair. I apologized profusely, to which she responded with the understatement of the century: “I like cats."
In addition to social and political views, we shared a love of woodlands, and she often visited me in the various country places I chose to live for eight years following the Indianapolis trailer – an old farmhouse on a 50-acre tract in Brown County, a cottage in Nashville, Indiana, and finally my own cabin in the Owen-Putnam State Forest, where we took many wonderful walks. She loved nature and animals, all felines and wolves being among her favorites, and she provided me with two memorable kitties, Randolph, a large white boy who lived with me in Owen County, and Chutney, a stunning marmalade, who was part of my household until a couple of years ago. I was also privileged to be the final caregiver for her beloved Truffle, who, like Marlene, did not hesitate to voice his opinions.
She had strong values and stuck by them, making her seem judgmental, and she was, but there was a bottom line of true conviction and even passion in her beliefs. Besides being intelligent, she was a beautiful woman who always looked years younger than her age, even after her brain tumor got the better of her. She handled a difficult life with courage and spirit and never lost her keen perspective and dry wit. She was a great friend. I truly miss her.