Marilyn Joyce (Dean) Tallman

  Marilyn J. Tallman, 80, of Sioux City, passed away on Monday, September 4, 2023 at a care facility in Nevada, Iowa. Memorial Services will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Monday, September 11, 2023 at Nelson Berger Northside Chapel. The service will be live streamed at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Rr9wL_ML1M Visitation will be one hour prior to the service. Interment will be at Memorial Park Cemetery. Online condolences may be directed to www.meyerbroschapels.com.

  Marilyn Joyce (Dean) Tallman, daughter of Emory and LaVon “Bonnie” (Keyser) Dean, was born December 23, 1942, near Walthill, Nebraska. After living on a farm near Allen, Nebraska, the family moved to South Sioux City in 1952, where she graduated from high school in 1960.

  Immediately following graduation, she went to work as a secretary for John Hancock Farm Mortgage in the Badgerow Building in Sioux City. She worked for the City of Sioux City, SIMPCO (Siouxland Interstate Metropolitan Planning Council), Drake University College of Fine Arts in Des Moines, Iowa State University Department of Art and Design in Ames, and Touring Coordinator for Des Moines Ballet. In Sioux City, she was secretary at Iowa Beef Processors and Marian Health Center. She was chair of the lowa Civil Rights Commission Central lowa Committee for Elimination of Discrimination and served on the Governor Branstad's committee commemorating the 25th Anniversary of the lowa Civil Right Commission. She was an Advocate for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, lobbying in Washington and Lincoln for mental health parity and three-digit emergency hotlines for suicide prevention.

  She never met an animal she didn't like, bringing home every stray she ever found, much to Bob's chagrin, as he grew to love them also. She found peace with her llamas, often sitting with them

watching birds. Her great delight was seeing a red-headed woodpecker in her yard in Danbury

one winter.

She loved her grandchildren and had "Granny's HR Files," a file for each grandchild where she kept their school pictures, newspaper clippings, on each one. She sent out surveys to each child to keep up on their interests and activities each year.

  She loved music and sang at church and many weddings when she was younger. She sang ten songs at one Saturday wedding from the balcony, where she insisted she sit so she could listen to her beloved Nebraska Cornhuskers game during the wedding.

  When she was twelve, her mother sent her for crochet lessons to "get her mind off Elvis Presley." That didn't work but she had a lifelong love of both crochet and Elvis, culminating with a trip to Elvis' home and gravesite at Graceland and his birthplace in Tupelo, in 2002 with three friends who also turned 60 that year. She was proud of her ticket from an Elvis concert in 1956 at the old Sioux City Auditorium.

  She was fond of Twitter and Facebook, using them as ways to keep in touch with people in the world and extended family.

  She is survived by her daughters: Kathy Engel Stabler of Peyton, CO, Mandy Engel Cartie (Kevin) of Sioux City, Andria Nelson of Adel, IA, and Jaimee Scala (Jason) of Ames, IA; fourteen grandchildren: Cassie, Tiffany, and Lucas Nelson, Trevor, Kalsem, and Joe Scala, Noah and Campbell Engel Cartie, Melissa, Scarlett, Gabriel, Alexandria, Matthew, Rachel, and Owen Michael Tallman, and Leah Meredith Kurt; one great-granddaughter: Maisie Kurt; sister, Joanne Wasmund Hammack; brother, Arlen Dean of South Sioux City; her dogs: Jax, KC, and Lady; and her cats.

  She was preceded in death by her husband, Robert “Bob” Tallman in 2019; son, Michael; parents; sister, Erma Fitch; and brothers, Conrad and Klemett Dean.

  The family would like to thank all the Healthcare workers who have worked with Marilyn over the years, especially her nurses Sandy and Lucas.