Influential lady

MOSES LAKE — As a grandmother, former teacher, and prominent member of the Church of Moses Lake, Marilyn Lancaster contributed greatly to the Moses Lake community.

She and her husband Stan moved to Moses Lake in 1962. They later moved to Alaska and then to Portland, Ore., where they lived for five years. Marilyn headed two preschools at two different daycare centers. He thoroughly enjoyed taking care of young children while raising her own three children. She and Stan were also involved in a Christian church.

"I've always been involved in the church, no matter where my life has taken me," says Marilyn.

In 1968, Marilyn and Stan moved their family back to Moses Lake permanently to get out of the city and raise their children among family and friends.

Upon returning to Moses Lake, Marilyn and Stan teamed up with Lucille Parks to start a daycare center.

"This was a time when daycares weren't that common in small towns. It was a relatively new idea," she said.

They put their resources together and renovated an old army building on the base to run their daycare. Many of the prominent members of the community supported it and the center hosted workshops for teachers from Western Washington. With their success, Marilyn and Lucille extended their program to include kindergarten students.

Marilyn and Stan were very involved in the Church of Moses Lake, along with Lucille Parks. Marilyn taught Sunday school and headed the nursery. The pastor, Ken Sandberg, and the church leaders proposed expanding the daycare center into a private Christian school for preschool to 12th grade.

After running a successful daycare for 16 years, Marilyn and Lucille decided to start up Day Star Christian Academy with the Church of Moses Lake. The old military base was turned into the school and the old daycare center was used for the church chapel. Marilyn taught Day Star's preschool and kindergarten classes, and soon began teaching third and fourth graders as a certified teacher.

"After 25 years of experience as a preschool teacher, I was fully qualified to move up to the older classes," Marilyn said.

Marilyn cares sincerely for the education of each and every student she had.

"(My) special interest was helping the individuals that needed special attention," she added.

She always tried to make her students' learning experience fun with plays, field trips, outside activities, and reward systems.

Being a teacher was never a career goal for Marilyn, but she is satisfied with her experiences as a teacher and mentor. Her mother and brother were teachers and her great-grandfather was a schoolmaster.

"Life kept heading that direction and it was something I enjoyed," she said.

In 1989, Marilyn's father was diagnosed with terminal cancer. She and Stan moved her parents into their home, and she retired from Day Star to be their in-home caretaker. When her father passed away, Marilyn returned to teach third and fourth grades at Day Star.

She was eager to return to her students, but, soon afterwards, her mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Marilyn continued to teach for seven more years while caring for her mother. She took her students on field trips to visit her mother to instill in them compassion and the value of life. When her mother's condition worsened, Marilyn retired permanently and cared for her mother, who passed away a year later.

Marilyn continues to teach and help raise her grandchildren. She and Stan have seventeen grandchildren and two great-grandchildren from their three children Ross, Norm, and Shawnee. All Marilyn and Stan's children and most of their grandchildren attended Day Star. She homeschools some of her grandchildren and takes at least one of them with her to visit her son Ross in Connecticut every year.

"(I like to) take my grandchildren with me so we get to spend time together and they can experience traveling," she said.

She feels her granddaughter Tarna has developed a love for flying as a result of her accompanying her grandmother on trips when she was young.

In 2001, Marilyn and a few of her grandchildren visited New York after visiting family in Connecticut. They walked through the city and went to the top of one of the World Trade Towers. Two days later, on Sept. 11, the World Trade Center was destroyed by terrorist-hijacked airplanes. She said such an experience is disturbing.

"I realized how blessed I am to have so many grandchildren," she said.

Marilyn and Stan have enjoyed using their retirement to travel around the United States. They spent their wedding anniversary in Hawaii in 2005. Throughout her life, Marilyn has been to almost all fifty of the United States, most of which she visited in retirement.

Marilyn and Stan continue to reside in Moses Lake and take care of their grandchildren by baby-sitting and homeschooling. They are also elders of the Church of Moses Lake. Marilyn has been an influential person in the growth and prosperity of the community by the foundation of her daycare center and Day Star Christian Academy.