Passed away on February 20th in Plano, TX. Born January 2nd, 1938 in Fort Wayne, IN to Rev. Leroy and Violet Rush Geiger. She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband’s parents, her sister Gladys Geiger Price, and her former husband Jerry McConnell. She is survived by her husband, Lion Bill Marek, her stepson, Lion Steve Marek, her son Scott McConnell and his wife, two grandchildren, and many nieces, nephews and cousins.

After graduating from North Central College, Naperville, IL, in 1959, Nancy Marek taught elementary school in Park Ridge, IL. She then taught in US Department of Defense schools on Okinawa for three years and in Wurzburg, Germany for two years. She taught Kindergarten through Fourth grade in a variety of places. Nancy earned her MA degree from Texas Woman’s University in December 1991, and married Lion Bill Marek on January 15th, 1994. She was honored with a lifetime membership in the State of Texas PTA while teaching at Wells Elementary in Plano. She was a member of the Plano Retired Teachers Association and traveled for the United Church of Christ national office as a consultant for churches in Texas, Georgia and the Carolinas.

Memorial service will be held on Saturday, March 13th at 2:00 pm at St. Paul’s Evangelical and Reformed Church, UCC, 6464 East Lovers Lane, Dallas, TX 75214, with reception in Fellowship Hall to follow. Memorials may be sent in her name to the Memorial Fund at St. Paul’s.

The club helped with volunteers at the ride, and we all had a good time. When I found out that they had enough volunteers, I just paid the entry fee and did the 5-mile ride (ok, I’m a wimp, but next year, I’ll go for the 10-mile ride). I did manage to finish fairly early, because I wanted to get back before it started raining. Lion Karen snapped this photo of me just after I got to the finish line. I took some pictures of her, but she didn’t send them to me (claimed they didn’t turn out or some other lame excuse — she’s just camera-shy). The weather held out for us, even long enough for me to run some errands for the ride organizers afterwards.

Lion Karen Marks is the member that got the club interested in helping with the Fun Ride.

Now that I’m no longer president of the club, I should have a little more time for other things — including being more active in some projects that I had to delegate to others last year.

One item I really look forward to is passing along the button that says “Everything’s my fault this year!” to Lion Gordon Settle when I see him on Friday. I’ve already reassigned the president@planolions.org email address to him. Lion Gordon is a real go-getter, and I will be working to make his presidential year better than mine was.

The next big thing coming up is the Independence Day Parade, which is hosted by the PELC each year. This will be the 3rd year since we took it on. Unfortunately, the economy has hit us hard, too — so the parade will be somewhat smaller this year.

Which may not be entirely a bad thing. Saturday is likely to be really warm, and it will be good to be done before the heat of the day gets really out of hand. If you are planning to come out to watch it, be sure to cover up with sunscreen, bring plenty of water, and wear a brimmed hat!

UPDATE: The parade was a great success! Here are some photos of the parade winners –

Best Musical Entry, Narrow Trail Cowboy Church

Best Use Of Theme, Democratic Party of Collin County

Best Float -- Conner Harrington Republican Women

Grand Marshal -- VFW Post 4380

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