Marilyn Pope

Marilyn Pope, 78, passed away on the morning of May 22, 2022, in Las Cruces, NM.

Born on July 12, 1943, to William and Rebekah Botkin Ruddell in Maryville, Marilyn was active in the Burr Oak community as a 4-H sewer, flutist and farmer’s daughter. She graduated from Skidmore High School in 1961 and from Northwest Missouri State University in 1965 with a bachelor of science in education.

That June she married George Pittsenbarger. After two years teaching at Burlington Jct. High School, August 1968 brought the arrival of the couple’s first daughter, Georgia Beth. They moved to a farm outside Hopkins, where Marilyn worked as a farmer’s wife and avid 4-H leader.

Six years later, their youngest daughter Lorinda was born. The family soon began splitting their time between Missouri and New Mexico.

Marilyn eventually divorced and worked many careers, including driving for Tom’s Snacks, substitute teaching, and acting as the head of the Socorro Chamber of Commerce. She served in various chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution in many of the states she lived in over the years. Most of all, Marilyn cherished her work as the director of the Geronimo Springs Museum in Truth or Consequences, NM. Marilyn loved discussing, gathering, and making history, and worked at Geronimo Springs until she passed.

In 2001, she married Thurl Pope, and the two lived at various times in Alaska, Hawai’i, Arizona and New Mexico.

Donations to the Geronimo Springs Museum can be made at 211 Main Street, Truth or Consequences, NM 87901.

Services for Marilyn Pope were held at 10 am, Friday, May 27, 2022, at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 407 Cedar St., Truth or Consequences, NM 87901.

Arrangements were by Kirikos Family Funeral Home, Inc., & Sierra Crematory, LLC, 303 N. Cedar St., Truth or Consequences, NM, 87901, 575.894.2574.

For online memorial messages, please visit kirikosfamilyfuneralhome.com.