Marilyn Gregory was born on the north side of Chicago in July of 1931. Throughout her childhood she moved around and transferred schools frequently, attending 13 different grade schools. At an early age she became interested in acting, singing and playing the piano and the accordion.
After high school graduation from Oak Park River Forest High School, she enrolled in Morton Jr. College in Cicero. Although she loved it there, an uncle suggested that she transfer to Illinois State Normal University, where he had attended. Her mother offered to pay her tuition, which was $40.00 a semester. Knowing that she essentially supported herself, the University found her a job as a waitress downtown at the Illinois Hotel on the square in Bloomington. Despite working almost full-time and carrying a heavy course load each semester, her academic performance did not suffer. She even received a letter from the Dean with congratulatory remarks regarding her academic success:
We have just recently completed the preparation of the Dean’s list of all University students earning no mark less than a “B” during the first semester of the school year. Your name is included in the group. In addition, you are one of 9 students of a total 2305 undergraduates who earned a mark of “A” in all his work. Please accept my heartiest congratulations on this outstanding achievement… When the semester opened, we were engaged in a so-called police action in Korea…. Perhaps there was some feeling that academic work should, at least for the present, be relegated to the background. Your record indicates that you did not feel that way about it. The University is proud of you and wishes you continued success.
Marilyn later met a local Bloomington man and left school to get married in July of 1951. After 13 years of marriage, they divorced. She and her two daughters, Michelle and Sheryl, returned to Chicago. She began working in a dental office for two years and then for a hospital supply company and an auto parts dealer. She had been completely removed from academia.
She eventually married another man in 1966, her current husband, Gene Gregory. Even after being away from French for 16 years, Gene convinced her to return to school to become a French teacher. It took her one-and-half years to complete her degree, which she received from Northeastern Illinois University, in 1969. She obtained a job, upon graduation, in Palatine, teaching 7th and 8th grade French. She continued her interest in piano by serving as the accompanist for all of the school’s various choruses.
After teaching French for 9 years, Marilyn was then asked to teach Spanish. With no experience with the Spanish language, she took night classes and summer classes and was soon teaching French AND Spanish! Also during her teaching years, Marilyn and her husband worked for 10 years in a theater in Skokie, IL, her husband as a set designer and builder, and Marilyn as a make-up artist. The both also performed on stage.
After her first year of teaching, she came back to Illinois State University where she started working on her Master’s degree in French. During her graduate studies she spent two summers in Grenoble, France and two summers in Normal. She completed her MA degree in June of 1974.
Marilyn taught in Palatine until her retirement in 1996. She later returned to the classroom as a substitute teacher until 2009, at the age of 78. She also worked for 4 years the student teacher coordinator from ISU during that time, working with student teachers serving locally.
Now, at the age of 81, Marilyn stays busy singing in two choirs and belonging to two social groups and a knitting club (for charity). She enjoys, along with knitting, reading and working on challenging crossword puzzles. She also entertains at nursing homes by playing the piano and singing. Gene, age 90, is a master woodcarver, and along with Marilyn enjoys their 3 children and 7 grandchildren.
