William Marion Gee

by Barbara Lloyd Gee (daughter-in-law)

 

William Marion Gee was born in Rexburg, Idaho on 29 March, 1906, to William Erastus Gee and Mary Ellen Kerr Gee.  Marion was raised in Rexburg and attended high school at Ricks Normal College.

 

In December 1926 he was called to serve in the Eastern States Mission.  When he came home from his mission, he worked in the mines in Wallace Idaho for the summer.

 

His family moved to Pocatello in July of 1929 and Marion went to college at the University of Idaho Southern Branch in Pocatello.  It was here he met his future wife, Helen Young, and they were married on 27 November 1930.  They were sealed on December 24, 1930 in the Logan Temple.

 

Helen was the daughter of George S. and Martha Rigby Young.  She taught school at Baily Creek until Marion began work in Driggs for the summer and then she cooked and cared for a crew of hungry relatives.

 

That fall Marion attended the University of Wyoming in Laramie and then the next summer he was joined by Helen and her Gee in-laws, Ivin and Pearl.  They ran a boarding house for students and faculty.  Helen continued this until Marion received his degree in English the spring of 1933.

 

Marion taught at Edmonds High and Washington school in Rexburg, then eleven years in the Blackfoot High School.

 

During this time two sons were born to this couple.  William Marion Gee II on July 22, 1933 and Anthony Linton Gee on October 18, 1940.  Also during this time Marion came down with Multiple Sclerosis.

 

Marion had the opportunity to join the faculty of the University of Idaho Southern Branch in Pocatello where he would teach Journalism, English, and American Literature.  The family had purchased a farm in Blackfoot, which they sold, and moved to Pocatello. 

 

In 1965 he retired due to poor health, and was given the status of Professor Emeritus.  He and Helen moved to Shelley, Idaho to be closer to their family members.  Helen passed away December 15, 1973.

 

In the spring of 1974 Marion moved into the Good Samaritan Rest Home in Idaho Falls.  Here he met Sharon Harrell Parks, who also had MS, and they were married on August 22, 1985.   Marion passed away December 12, 1990.