Marlys (Sather) Russell, 83

Marlys (Sather) Russell of Marblehead, a devoted mother and grandmother and a longtime executive director of Camp Fire of the North Shore, died on Monday, Sept. 21. She was 83.

A graduate of Yankton High School in Yankton, S.D., and Augustana College in Sioux Falls, S.D., she began her career as a social worker in Austin, Minn. But she soon embarked on a life-changing adventure, moving cross-country to Boston with two friends on a lark, with no job and no intention to settle down for good on the East Coast.

She began what would be a 40-year career serving children on Boston’s North Shore, starting out as summer camp director at Camp Fire’s Camp Waluta and rising to the top job at the small nonprofit, and she married Robert L. Russell, her gregarious extrovert husband of 35 years, in a match that proved that opposites really do attract.

At Camp Fire of the North Shore, one of the oldest Camp Fire councils in the country, Marlys provided steady leadership in an era of challenge and change. She was co-creator of a new club program for kindergarten children, and she expanded programming in new directions, investing in after-school care in Lynn and Salem and classroom-based self-reliance training for fourth-graders, who learned to resist peer pressure and stand up to bullies.

After her retirement in 2010, Marlys was happiest at the helm of her tiny, no-frills kitchen, where she reveled in preparing too much food for her children, grandchildren and friends. Guests at her annual Christmas Eve gathering looked forward to the Norwegian feast of meatballs and lefse all year – and treasured the tins of exquisite Christmas cookies she sent home with them.

Baking was her way of expressing love, butter and vanilla her terms of endearment, and her laptop bookmarks read like affectionate poetry: Chocolate Spice Cake with Caramel Icing. Honey Bun Coffee Cake. Creamiest Rice Pudding. Pistachio Muffins.

Marlys cherished her Midwestern roots and her close-knit family there. She shared stories of growing up in South Dakota with her four siblings and Norwegian schoolteacher parents, and she made sure her own children felt connected to that heritage, via frequent summer road trips to the wide-open heartland where they could run wild with their prairie cousins.

She also loved Marblehead’s rich history, and shared it with visitors to the town as a gift shop volunteer at Abbot Hall. She was a longtime member of Clifton Lutheran Church, a steadfast Democrat, an avid reader of newspapers and novels, a devotee of PBS mystery shows and a “West Wing” superfan who recently rewatched all seven seasons.

A passionate Green Bay Packers shareholder and fan for six decades, since her indoctrination by her cheesehead husband, Marlys hosted Packer game parties for decades by the glowing fireplace in her 350-year-old historic home, the epicenter of Russell family life for generations.

Marlys lived a life of understated dignity and strength, and her lasting legacy will be the simple lessons she instilled: Gather together in good times and bad. Celebrate the small things. And believe that tomorrow can be better than today.

She is survived by her children, Carrie and Jennifer Russell, Bowdie Russell and Heidi Chisholm; by her grandchildren, Bowdie, Caitlin, Shamus and Morgan Russell; Esther Tobin; Carl and Russell Chisholm, Cadence and Poesy Chapman and Maisie Russell-Deveney; by her great-grandchildren, Cain Tobin and Finnegan, Delaney and Kinsley Russell and by her brothers Paul and Gordon Sather.

A funeral service will be held at noon Tuesday, Sept. 29, at Waterside Cemetery. Family and friends are welcome to gather afterward at the family home.

Donations to honor her memory may be made to the North Shore Hearing Foundation (nshearingfoundation.com), Camp Fire North Shore (campfirenorthshore.networkforgood.com) or Emily’s List (win.emilyslist.org).

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at eustisandcornellfuneralhome.com for Marlys’ family.