Marilyn K. Nelson

Marilyn K. Nelson (Vangen), 84, of Lake Barrington, IL, passed away on March 21, 2025.

She is survived by her husband of 62 years, Roger L Nelson; daughters, Kristy Bennett (Paul) and Kari Mrazek (Joe); grandchildren, Ryan Bennett, Alison Hanlon (Trevor), Joey Mrazek, and Evan Mrazek; and great-granddaughter, Amelia Hanlon. She was preceded in death by her parents, John and Lillian (Madsen) Vangen; and her sister, Yvonne Steinbach (Al).

Marilyn was born on November 3, 1940 in Northfield, MN, where she grew up and went to high school. She graduated from St. Olaf College, where she met Roger in Norwegian class. She taught high school business classes early in her career and later worked as an account manager for a travel company, from which she later retired. Marilyn and Roger raised their daughters in Lombard, IL, then spent 30 years in Hoffman Estates before moving to Lake Barrington.

Marilyn enjoyed sewing, baking, spending time with friends and traveling. A lover of a good garage sale, no summer was complete without hosting at least one—because, of course, just about everything collected from who-knows-where had 'value'.

Over the years, we have priceless memories of road trips across the country, adventures to Disney, cruises, and even two trips to Norway. Our Washington, D.C. trip was one of our favorites—though it was also the one that made her declare, “I’m never planning a trip for you guys again!” Our sarcasm must have been in full force that year.

Genealogy was one of her passions, and we’re lucky to have several keepsake books documenting her work. Her lefse recipe is one of our most cherished heritage hand-me-downs. We've done our best perfecting the technique to get dough consistency and the griddling just right. All generations now participate in this annual tradition on Christmas Eve--it's not Christmas without it. We could have really used her input on last year's rosette and krumkake experimentation. We narrowly avoided a kitchen fire, but hope that she gives us divine guidance when we give it a go next year.

Above all, family was her absolute #1. She made sure they had everything they needed—and much of what they wanted—without them ever realizing how much she stretched every dollar to make it happen. Didn't everyone's mom sew their daughters matching Raggedy Ann jumpers, Easter dresses with bonnets, and sometimes their underwear? And then use the leftover fabric scraps to make Barbie clothes? Turns out, they didn’t. No extra money for the ice cream man? No problem. She would put those little ice cream cups with the wooden spoons in a shoe box attached to a string around her neck and we would 'buy' them with quarters from her purse.

Her grandchildren were her world, and they could always count on a pile of Swedish pancakes the morning after sleepovers. And they will forever remember that “there is always room for ice cream. It just fills in the cracks”.

A friend of hers recently said that she was the most efficient and capable woman they ever met. That she was. She was one of a kind, and we were so lucky to have her.

Saying goodbye is never easy, but after her battle with Parkinson’s dementia, it was time. We lost a gem of a mom.

A memorial will take place at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Lutheran Social Services of Illinois www.lssi.org/donate or Parkinson’s Foundation www.parkinson.org.