MARILYN LOUISE (VAN DUYNE) MASTERSON
December 19, 1934 – November 2, 2025
Marilyn Louise (Van Duyne) Masterson passed away on Sunday, November 2, 2025, in South Bend, Indiana, at the age of 90. The youngest daughter of Fred K. and Mildred (Fultz) Van Duyne of Fulton County, she shared her childhood with her sister Evelyn and brother Fredrick.
Growing up on their fourth-generation family farm, where she was born in the same farmhouse as her mother, brother and sister, she graduated from Rochester High School with the Class of 1952. Five decades later, her two grandsons graduated from the same school. She met her husband, Randy Masterson, at Rochester High during her junior year and married him upon his return from the Korean War in 1954.
She spent most of her adult life in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where Randy taught high school science while Marilyn worked in clerical positions. She was a 4-H leader in Fort Wayne for five years before retiring in 1996 back home near Rochester, in sight of her original homestead, where her older daughter Robin and her husband now reside. For nearly 30 years, Marilyn enjoyed her winters with Randy in Manatee County, Fla., where their younger daughter Angela lives with her family in Terra Ceia Island on Florida’s West Coast.
For many years, Marilyn took part in recreational volleyball, bowling leagues and flower gardening. A member of several singing groups throughout her life—including the Fulton County Chorus, Rochester First Baptist Church Choir and Allen County Choraliers—during her years in Florida, she was active in her park’s musical activities and later an art class, where she focused on sketching. As poet laureate of her high school class, she found great delight in crafting rhymes and songs.
Preceding her in death were her parents, Fred K. and Mildred (Fultz) Van Duyne, sister Evelyn (Van Duyne) Braman, brother-in-law Calvin Braman, brother Fredrick Van Duyne, sister-in-law Dorcas (Riddle) Van Duyne and sister-in-law Marilyn (Darr) Kiesling. Marilyn is lovingly remembered by her husband of 71 years, Randy; daughter Robin (Eric) Surface, DVM; and daughter Angela (Paul) Jones; three grandchildren: Kyle (Karalee, Ph.D.) Surface, Reid (Jessica, M.S.) Surface and Jessica Randi Jones; three great-grandchildren, Sylar, Nolan and Oliver Surface; brothers-in-law Dana (Crystal) Masterson and Lynn (Nancy) Masterson; and countless cousins, nieces, nephews and friends. Her songs will resound in their hearts.
A gathering celebrating the life of Marilyn Masterson will be from 10:00 AM - Noon, Wednesday, November 5, 2025, in the Good Family Funeral Home, 1200 West 18th Street, Rochester, IN. Her family will receive friends at that time. The burial will be at a later date at the Mt. Zion Cemetery. Online expressions of sympathy may be made to her family at www.goodfamilyfh.com
