Marilyn Anne Lantz

Marilyn Anne Mitchell Lantz, a resident of Midtown Atlanta for over fifty years, passed away on March 9, 2021. She was born on December 27, 1939, in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, to James Ralph Mitchell and Marion Eveline Jones Mitchell Brown. She attended Beloit College in Beloit, Wisconsin, and later taught second grade in Madison, Wisconsin, where she met her husband of over fifty years, Thomas Edward Lantz, who survives her.

After post-graduate study in Leeds, England, Marilyn and Tom moved to Tom’s hometown, Atlanta, where they raised four kids, Karen, Brian, Rebecca and Lela. Marilyn was extremely active at Grace United Methodist Church, where she sang in the Choir and rang handbells for many years. She was a preschool teacher at Glenn Memorial Church in Atlanta teaching 2 year-olds. She was also active in her community public schools, including C.W. Hill Elementary, Morningside Elementary, Inman Middle School, and Grady High School, and was always on hand to help with any first aid, as her own kids had made her an expert at trips to the Emergency Room. She was a member of the P.E.O. Sisterhood, an international women's organization focusing on providing educational opportunities for female students worldwide, and was extremely active with P.E.O. Chapter A of Georgia with leadership and mentoring, social, and fundraising activities.

Marilyn had an infectious smile, never met a stranger, and had an open, generous heart. She loved reading, learning, traveling, visiting the elephants at the Atlanta Zoo (she knew all their names!), listening to and making music, and her friends and family. She participated in the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Emory for over a decade, and frequently attended concerts at Symphony Hall. She travelled to all 50 states and all the continents except Antarctica, including many trips with her extended family, and in 2018 made her dream trip to Africa with much of her family where she saw lots of elephants and giraffes in their home environment. She cherished her many friends, and had a Wednesday-morning breakfast group that she loved attending with longtime friends. The group continues to gather using Zoom despite Covid.

Her many friends know of her holiday Cookie Party, a tradition she hosted for over 50 years, until it was interrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic. She would bake more than a thousand sugar cookies, and invite friends and family to come and decorate them and take them home. Over the decades, she amassed an enviable collection of cookie cutters, and used them every year to make an amazing assortment of cookies for her friends to decorate and enjoy.

Marilyn is survived by her husband, Tom Lantz, her brothers, Robert “Bob” Mitchell and William “Bill” Mitchell and their wives, her children Karen Patterson, Brian Lantz, Rebecca Lantz, and Lela Lantz and their spouses, and her grandchildren: Maxwell Lantz, Delaney Lantz, Benjamin Lantz, Cailah DeRoo, Brendan DeRoo, Caroline Patterson, and Mitchell Patterson.

A private grave-side service will be held at the Decatur Cemetery, with a Celebration of Life to be planned for the summer.

In lieu of flowers, if so inclined, the family requests that gifts in her memory be made to P.E.O. International to support scholarships for women through the P.E.O. International Peace Scholarship. Please list her chapter as A/GA. Donations may also be sent to the United Methodist Children's Home at www.Wellroot.org.