For Patricia Stewart, 1953 was a busy year. She was champion of the women’s swim team at her college, elected queen of the campus, crowned Miss West Virginia and then went on to represent the Mountain State in the Miss America pageant. And after all of that, she still found time to marry Air Force Lt. Robert J. Marrs that December.
“It looks like that was full year,” her daughter, Elizabeth Dean, said with a laugh. “She said it was a very exciting time in her life.”
In the Miss American pageant the former-Miss Stewart’s talent was singing and vocal impressions.
“She did a pretty good Marlon Brando, actually,” said Mrs. Dean, who lives in Marietta. “She entertained us for years with her impressions of famous people.”
Patricia Stewart Marrs, of Marietta, died Thursday at Metropolitan Hospice, Marietta, from complications due to cancer. She was 77. The family will receive friends from 2 p.m. until 4 p.m. Thursday at H.M. Patterson and Son, Marietta, which is also in charge of arrangements. There will be a graveside service Jan. 30, at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Va.
Mrs. Marrs, a native of Pineville, W. Va., brought laughter and light into the lives of everyone she met, said her cousin Nancy Belcher, who still lives in Athens, W. Va..
“She was entertaining, from day one,” Mrs. Belcher said. “She could mimic anybody, from Nat King Cole, on down.”
She attended Concord College, in Athens, for two years. It was in her sophomore year that she was elected Miss Concord College and went on to larger pageants. After she married Lt. Marrs, she became a full-time officer’s wife and dedicated herself to raising the two children they eventually had. In the Air Force, Lt. Marrs achieved the rank of Lt. Col. Before he retired in 1978. The couple was married for 54 years before Lt. Col. Marrs died in 2008.
Mrs. Marrs could often be seen sporting her trademark red sunglasses while riding in her daughter’s Mini Cooper around Marietta.
“We’d tool around Atlanta and East Cobb,” Mrs. Dean said. “We were a team together.”
Mrs. Marrs, who lived at Parc at Piedmont in East Cobb, had a magnetic personality, her daughter and cousin said.
“People have always been drawn to mom,” Mrs. Dean said. “Her positive outlook on life and her sweet nature just made people gravitate toward her.”
Mrs. Belcher said she can remember other military wives doing housework at Mrs. Marrs home, while her husband was away, in preparation for a visit from her mother.
“One would begin a cake, another would vacuum the floor and one would be in there scrubbing her bathroom,” Mrs. Belcher said. “And I’d ask her, ‘How in the world did you get these nice women to do this work for you?’ and it was really her charm. She charmed them. She was also very giving too.”
Mrs. Dean said her mother’s giving spirit was present year-round, but especially during the Christmas season. It was her favorite time of year, her daughter said.
“It wasn’t just the giving, but she loved the decorations, especially the ornaments,” her daughter said. “She gave us over half of the ornaments that decorate our tree and she loved to come to the house and look for them on our tree.”
Mrs. Marrs is also survived by her son, Robert J. Marrs III of Orlando and two grandchildren.
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