in loving memory of
Marlene Collins Showalter
1940 - 2022

Memorial Service
Service will be on Saturday, March 19, at 2:00 p.m.
with a preservice slide show beginning at 1:45 p.m. 

Masks recommended for in-person attendance.
Join the live-stream by clicking on the video image below.
VMRC residents may tune to Channel 704.

If you attend by live-stream, or later viewing,
please sign the online guestbook by clicking the button below,
so the family will know you participated.

The service will be followed by a celebration of life
​at the Spotswood Country Club in Harrisonburg. 

Slideshow

Obituary
Marlene Collins Showalter, 81, of Broadway Virginia, passed away peacefully at VMRC on March 2, 2022 with her husband, Donald, by her side.  Marlene was born on September 30, 1940 and was the daughter of the late Edward C. Collins and Edith Blough Collins.  She was also preceded in death by her sister; June Marie Weaver and her brother, Dr. Robert E. Collins.

After graduating from Eastern Mennonite University in 1962, she continued her studies with a Master’s Degree in mathematics from James Madison University and a PhD (ABD) in Educational Psychology from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She taught in the Rockingham County public schools and at James Madison University.  

On August 8, 1964, she married Donald E. Showalter of Broadway.  She is survived by her husband and three children, Carl G. Showalter II, of Los Altos, CA, Anne L. Showalter, of Chapel Hill, NC and Philip E. Showalter, of Lynchburg, VA and six grandchildren: Alexander Showalter, Andrew Showalter, Maxwell Wieboldt, Ella Showalter, Madison Wieboldt and Katherine Showalter, and a brother; Ronald Collins. She was a dedicated and loving mother and grandmother.

In addition to being an avid reader and gardener with a particular love for dahlias, Marlene was an accomplished athlete who won numerous golf and tennis championships. Her passion for travel led her to explore India, the United Kingdom (60 gardens), Canada, Italy, Australia, and New Zealand, to ski the most challenging slopes in Austria, Switzerland and the Western United States, and to visit her grandchildren in Lynchburg, Belgium and California. To celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary, Marlene and Donald took their children and grandchildren to the Galapagos Islands. 

Marlene attended Park View Mennonite Church, where she served as Chairman of the Church Counsel, a Sunday School Teacher and a mentor.

The family requests that all flowers are sent to Park View Mennonite Church (1600 College Avenue, Harrisonburg, VA 22802) for the memorial service, which will be held at the church at 2:00 on Saturday, March 19 (masks recommended), followed by a celebration of life at Spotswood Country Club. Burial will be private at Trissels Mennonite Cemetery near Broadway. The memorial service will be live-streamed at www.pvmchurch.org.

Donations in lieu of flowers can be sent to the Village Library in Broadway, Blue Ridge CASA for Children, Plecker Center for Community Philanthropy, 317 South Main Street, Harrisonburg, VA 22801 or the Eastern Mennonite University Bach Festival, 1200 Park Road, Harrisonburg, VA 22802.

Funeral arrangements are entrusted to Grandle Funeral Home in Broadway.