Marilyn Russell Stansfield Walldorf

Marilyn Russell Stansfield Walldorf, age 81, passed away on May 24th, 2025.

She was born on Aug 28th, 1943, in Palo Alto, California. Raised in Midvale, Utah, she was the second daughter of Glena Paulsen and Earl C. Stansfield. There she helped her sister and mother raise her younger siblings.

They later moved to Coloma, Michigan with her family and stepfather, Paul Zielke, where Marilyn enjoyed twirling and was cheerleading captain for the Coloma Comets! She participated in several other extracurricular activities at Coloma High School in Michigan where she graduated in 1961. Her academic love for the arts and language was furthered as she studied English at Southern Utah University where she enjoyed devoting a great deal of time to helping other students as an English tutor.

Her compassion and love for others came to the rescue of many young students when Marilyn accepted a teaching position at Mt. Vernon Academy in Salt Lake City. There she advocated tirelessly for so many young people who loved her so and made lifelong differences in their lives.

On September 11th, 1965 she married Theodore “Ted” Walldorf in East Lansing, Michigan. Ted and Marilyn would spend over 60 years together. They would first settle in Michigan City, Indiana, where she had three boys, Todd, Christian, and Brad Walldorf. Ted’s job with the phone company would take Marilyn and their boys all over the USA. They left Michigan City to live in the Salt Lake City, Utah area around 1972, then later to Cedar City, Utah and eventually even further south to Mesa, Arizona. The boys grew up, and Ted took on a new role with an international telecommunications company, sending Marilyn and Ted on adventures all over the world from Malaysia, China, Singapore, the Maldives, Thailand, Indonesia, Borneo, Korea, Spain, England, and Ireland, among others. During this period, Marilyn also went adventuring, sometimes taking her sister Julie with her, to other European stops, including France and Germany, where she visited the village of “Walldorf”. In particular, she and Julie journeyed to areas near Staffordshire and Birmingham England in search of their ancestral roots there.

Marilyn would happily remark on how often she had circled the globe, which was at least 3 times!

Marilyn had an impressive Latter-Day-Saint heritage and would often remind her boys of how proud she was that her Mormon Pioneer ancestors helped to settle the rough and tumble Utah frontier almost 170 years ago! In particular she often mentioned her 3rd great grandfather, Samuel Jewkes who had come all the way from Tipton, England and was called by President Brigham Young along with others to go to Iron County to develop iron mining. Among other trades, Samuel was a steel maker, soldier and officer, grist and sawmill founder and operator, as well as a musician of early Iron County and later Sanpete County. It was very important to Marilyn for us to understand the achievements of our Pioneer ancestors.

Loved by her family, friends, students, and fellow Latter-Day-Saints, she was active in the Church and well-known by the relief society at the Alta Mesa Stake Center here in Mesa, Arizona. More than anything Marilyn was a compassionate person who loved her family intensely. She greatly enjoyed creative art, in particular, both oil painting and charcoal drawing were creative outlets that she particularly enjoyed. She worked very hard to place her work in galleries in Scottsdale, Arizona among other galleries, and she took great pride in showing her work and teaching painting techniques to her family and friends.

Marilyn excelled at homemaking crafts, loved being with her children, playing tennis and other sports, shopping and traveling, singing, and English composition. When she would give a hug goodbye, she would always prolong that hug as long as possible. We will all miss her.

She is survived by her children, Todd (Joan) Walldorf, Christian (Natalya) Walldorf, and Brad Walldorf and many grand-children and great-grand-children, and in particular her devoted husband and lifelong companion, Ted Walldorf. Her siblings include Julia (Dennis) Hogan, Steven (Joanne) Stansfield, Colonel Randell (Tana) Stansfield, David (Cindy) Zielke, Anne (Lee) Bryner, Dennis Stansfield, Melody Stansfield Lucky, and Carol Stansfield. Marilyn is preceded in death by her parents Glena and Earl Stansfield, stepfather Paul Zielke, and siblings John Zielke, Linda Stansfield, Kenra Stansfield, John Zielke, and her older sister Julia Stansfield Hogan.

Funeral Services will be held at 10am on Saturday, June 7th, 2025 at the LDS Alta Mesa Stake Center, on 5350 E McLellan Road in Mesa, Arizona. Dress will be casual to formal (from t-shirt to tie) in whatever one is comfortable in. A viewing will be held from 9am to 9:45 am prior to the services.

Marilyn, an intensely loving mother, teacher, student, artist, spouse, and friend will be interned after services at the City of Mesa Cemetery located at 1212 North Center Street in Mesa, Arizona.

Flowers can be sent Friday, June 6th, in care of the Bunker Family Funerals & Cremation Mortuary (please be sure it is the University location) at 3529 E University Drive in Mesa, Arizona 85213. 480-830-4105

Arrangements by Bunker’s University Chapel, www.bunkerfuneral.com. Should this obituary appear anywhere but bunkerfuneral.com, please check our website for accurate details and service information.