Marilyn Kaye Draper, 88, of Clermont, Florida, died peacefully Saturday, December 7, 2024, at Cornerstone Hospice House in Clermont of natural causes.

The daughter of Lloyd and Aretha Meek of Tarkio, Missouri, Marilyn was born September 29, 1936, in Maryville, Missouri. In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband, Floyd Draper, who passed away September 25, 2003.

She is survived by seven children: Blaine Knapp, Concord, California, Taryn (Leon) Cobb, Antioch, California, William (Jill) Draper, Gladstone, Missouri, Julie Draper, Fruitland Park, Florida, Floyd Steven Draper, Maryville, Nina (Tim) Walker, Elkhorn, Nebraska, and Dana (Tony) Draper, Hamilton, Illinois; 11 grandchildren; 13 great-grandchildren; and three sisters, Linda Blair, Boca Raton, Florida, Diana Eickhoff, Auburn, Nebraska, and Nina Dewhirst, Maryville.

Marilyn spent her early years in Stanberry, Missouri, before her family moved to Tarkio when she was 10. She graduated from Tarkio High School in 1954, and 33 years later she received a bachelor’s degree from Tarkio College in 1987.

Marilyn spent much of her adult life feeding large numbers of people, first as mother to a house full of kids, then as owner of D&B Restaurant in Tarkio. She later worked for 10 years as food service supervisor at The Kensington-Fort Madison, an assisted living facility in southeast Iowa where she and Floyd also were onsite caretakers who were very popular with the residents.

Marilyn will be laid to rest next to her husband at Florida National Cemetery following a private interment ceremony later this month.