A Life Filled with Music, Movement and Meaning | Marilyn Fredericks
A Life Filled with Music, Movement and Meaning
The dancing came first. Marilyn trained in ballet, but tap was always her favorite. She also earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Illinois, adding formal education to a life already shaped by curiosity, discipline and creativity.
When it came to dance, she had a natural instinct for movement.
“I hear the music, and the music tells me what to do,” she said. “I choreograph.”
That instinct carried her from early recitals as a teenager all the way to age 80, when she won the Silver Star senior citizens title at Drury Lane Theatre. As a young woman, Marilyn was what she calls a “tap dancer supreme,” and at age 19, she won a beauty contest wearing a custom gold lamé bathing suit.
Marilyn also led a troupe of Italian folk dancers. The troupe performed for the governor of Illinois and the mayor of Chicago, appeared on The Bozo Show on WGN-TV, and performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
For years, she taught dance, training students from age 7 through their teenage years. At recitals, she made sure her youngest dancers were placed where their families could see them, often arranging them like steps so every child had a place to shine.
She taught for Debutante Cotillions, where young women were formally introduced to society. She also made a point of learning whatever she needed to teach. When she was asked to teach Mexican folk dances for quinceañeras, Marilyn learned the steps herself rather than tell the class she did not know them. She also had a Hawaiian dance troupe.
When one of her teenage students became sick before a performance, Marilyn stepped into the routine herself.
Then there is the travel card.
Marilyn spent 30 years working as a travel agent and made full use of the job. She visited nearly every country in South America other than Ecuador, including a trip to Iguazu Falls, which she compared to Niagara Falls and saw from both the Argentine and Brazilian sides. Israel, Turkey and Greece ranked among her favorite destinations.
“The beginning of civilization,” she said.
She traveled as far north as Iceland and as far south as New Zealand, explored Europe and returned to Rome six or seven times. Domestically, she joked, her travels stopped at Disneyland.
Three years after they married, he was paralyzed by multiple sclerosis.
Marilyn secured his care through the Veterans Administration, and for the eight years he lived in veterans’ extended care, she brought him home every Sunday on an eight-hour pass so their daughter could spend time with him. He also called their daughter every day at lunchtime.
Asked whether it was a sad chapter of her life, Marilyn did not hesitate.
“That was not it,” she said. “I was blessed.”
After a series of falls and a stay in rehabilitation, Marilyn moved to Park Place of Elmhurst, where she has continued finding ways to stay connected and engaged.
“I’m very lucky that there’s this place for me,” she said.
She looks forward to themed lunches and has already planned her outfit for an upcoming hula party hosted by the local park district: a Hawaiian-print sweater, not a costume.
These days, her family includes a daughter and son-in-law who are both attorneys. Surrounded by that kind of résumé, Marilyn laughs.
“I’m a tap dancer, and that’s it,” she said. “I can’t do what they do, and they can’t do what I do.”
Still, Marilyn continues to bring joy to the people around her and will be 96 in December. Every day, she gathers riddles and brings them down to the dining room to share with her neighbors.
Whether through dance, travel stories, teaching or a riddle shared over a meal, she has spent her life finding ways to connect with others.
And after all these years, the music is still moving her forward.
