Our wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother Marrium Anne Croom passed away in her home with loved ones near after prolonged health challenges.
She was born in Pasadena, California, Feb. 16, 1929 – the year of the great depression – to Delmar and Lois Taylor. When she was five years old they moved to Washington, D.C., for improved employment opportunities. She had the joy of participating in the Easter Egg Roll celebration at the White House where she had a brief conversation with the President’s wife Eleanor Roosevelt. After several years they returned to the northern California area. Her father started to work at a very isolated fish hatchery. She reminisced how as a very little girl she had to walk over a mile along a logging road to catch the bus to school – a very different time. At 14 the family moved to Reno, Nevada where she graduated high school three years early. She then enrolled in the University of Nevada becoming one of the first woman to graduate with an advanced science degree in physics with a minor in German.
At this time, she met her future husband Thomas W. Croom, a returning WWII veteran, at the local Church of Christ. Marrium was a lifelong devoted member of the Church of Christ where she taught Sunday school classes, weekly women’s classes, vacation Bible classes, and many door-to-door proselyting efforts, only stopping teaching in her late eighties due to health difficulties.
In 1970 Marrium and her husband chose to use an inheritance to buy the property and the building to be used as the meeting place for the Tooele Church of Christ, the same as she is having her funeral services. After several years they moved to the Spokane, Washington, area where they proceeded to have their four children Tom, Carol, Tim, and Terry. At this time, she started teaching at local schools at which she excelled.
They moved to Grantsville, Utah, in 1964 due to the government ordinance depot in Washington closing and them choosing to transfer to Tooele, Utah, ordinance depot to retain employment benefits. Marrium continued working as a schoolteacher for 5th and 6th grades for over 20 years. When Grantsville middle school was built, she moved to it and started teaching 6-8th grade science. In this 30-year period she taught nearly every person in that age range in the city of Grantsville. One of her ideas was to start a yearly science fair which continues today. When teaching 5-6th grade she helped to initiate the “school dance” which many of her students still fondly remember.
She has won more awards than we can note here but they include the state science teacher of the year and the state teacher of the year. She was also president of the teacher’s “union” in the mid 80s where she was involved in negotiating health care and retirement benefits that are better than the current ones. She also was able to continue attending advanced study ending with a master’s degree and was starting to enter principals/superintendents positions when she chose to retire to allow for her to care for her parents who were failing in health.
After a time she entered a 10-15 years period where she had the time and the where-with-all to travel. She went to Europe five times including a treasured trip including two of her best friends Pat Sorenson and Clio Rigs. At this time she did a China river tour with another friend, Dawn DeWitt. The Great Wall and the Imperial City were highlights of the trip. She also visited Vietnam and visited Mexico three times.
She was also the president of the Grantsville Senior Citizens center. She also saw the need of transport of older people in Tooele County to doctors appointments in Salt Lake City and after about six months work of seeking grants she got the grants for a new van and operating expenses.
She was a member in many clubs but she possibly held G.F.W.C. as her favorite. She attended many local and out of state gatherings. She served as the Utah state president and attended national conferences in this position. I could keep going on but…
She was preceded in death by her parents Delmar and Lois, her husband Tom, by her son Thomas, and her daughter Carol. She is survived by her two sons Tim and Terry, plus numerous grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews.
Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m., Saturday, March 25, 2023, at the Tooele Church of Christ, 430 W. Utah Ave., Tooele, Utah. Viewing one hour prior to the services. Burial will follow in the Grantsville City Cemetery in care of Dalton-Hoopes Funeral Home. A brief gathering at the cemetery and then everyone is welcome to meet at her home. Online condolences and memories may be shared at DaltonHoopes.com.