February 3, 2022
"I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do." - Atticus Finch, To Kill a Mockingbird
While it is true Marilyn Coughlan passed on February 3rd, 2022 at the age of 66 in Abbotsford, BC it is important to note that she was no ordinary woman and this will be no ordinary obituary.
We're talking about a woman who, as a teenager, fought through the crowd at the Festival Express to make her way to the stage as Janis Joplin was playing & not only succeeded in sitting on the stage - but was invited to take a swig of Southern Comfort by Janis herself.
Friend to outcasts, oddballs and a couple yuppies, Marilyn's life was a perpetual Freaker's Ball (great song - look it up) where everyone was loved for being themselves.
Always willing to take a risk in humour and in love, Marilyn may have been knocked down a hundred times, but she stood up a hundred-and-one.
She has been recently reunited with her mother, Beatrice LaPointe, father, Randolph Coughlan, her brother Danny, and two of the loves of her life: Stryder, a Great Dane and Kage, a Malamute.
Anxious to see her again but taking their time to do so are her daughter Meghann, her son-in-law Alvaro, her four grandchildren: Delaney, Avelino, Eden, and Keegan, her sister Naomi (Ian), Sister-in-law Joy, nieces and nephews Cristy, Chaise, Samantha, Blake, Mat and Melanie, many cousins, Chilean family Carmen, Bernardo, Alejandro, Marisel, Mosi and Carlota, chosen family Painter Mike, Eddie, Kim, Samy, Lynn, her dog, Paris, and a feast of other friends across the country.
Remembering her well will be easy. Read a good book. Rescue an animal. Go down by the water and listen to a song that you can feel in your soul. Accept people as they are but most importantly, stay gold.
A service will be arranged in Abbotsford as soon as the mandate allows.