Our Mom, Marianne Ough Elliott, passed away on October 15, 2021, in Walnut Creek, CA. Marianne was born in Eureka, California, to Clark “Ab” Ough and Marie Ough on March 22, 1935. She grew up in Paso Robles, CA, along with her brother Johnny, and where Ab, a pharmacist, owned a drug store for many years.
Marianne was a “tomboy” in an age when girls were meant to wear frilly dresses. She said she ran faster than most of the boys her age. Marianne enjoyed competitive and synchronized swimming through High School and won numerous awards in those events.
She married Bruce Elliott, and they had four children, Terri, Nick, Mike, and Tina. The family moved to Portland, Oregon, and then to Reno, Nevada, in 1964, when Reno was a town of 50,000. Once her children were older, she co-owned a designer/drapery business and Schillings Luggage in the Park Lane Mall and Harrah’s, Lake Tahoe, with her lifelong friend Sharon Clements. She loved to travel and lived in Puerto Vallarta for part of the year for several years in the 1980s. Marianne eventually settled in the Bay Area to be close to relatives, where she lived the rest of her life.
Her passion for painting, and art in general, continued wherever she went. She took and gave art lessons and joined numerous art groups, helping with various art functions, and entering art shows. One of her pieces was accepted in the Yosemite Renaissance Exhibition with 44 other winners out of 600 entrants, which toured the country for a year.
Marianne was known for her kind and gentle demeanor but with a strong will, spirited humor, and sense of adventure. She leaves four children, nine grandchildren, 17 great-grandchildren, many relatives, and close friends with wonderful memories of love and laughter.
We will plan a celebration of her life some time this spring.
