Marilyn Irene (Hunt) Scharine was born in Whitewater, Wisconsin, on October 17, 1940. The salutatorian of her high school class, Marilyn graduated cum laude from Wisconsin State College (now University) with a B.Ed. in 1961. In 1964 she received a M.A. in Speech and Theatre at the University of Kansas and a certificate of achievement from the University of Vienna Summer School.

Marilyn Scharine began her teaching career at Port Washington (Wisconsin) High School, and later taught at Eastern Iowa Community College and William Penn College in Oskaloosa, Iowa, before moving to Salt Lake City in 1978. In 1982 she resumed her career, teaching theatre through the Division of Continuing Education at the University of Utah and in 1986 became an adjunct in Speech and Theatre at Westminster College, where she advanced to half-time and, several years ago, to full-time faculty status. In 1992-93 she taught conversational English at the University of Gdansk, Poland.

In theatre Marilyn was accomplished as both a costume designer -- creating and usually constructing the outfits for well over fifty plays -- and as an actress. She played a vast variety of roles, from Wilde and Chaucer to Lorca and Ionesco, including performance tours of Western Europe in 1964, Wales and England in 1978, and Poland 1993 and 1996.

In 1981 she began hosting Our Arts (later ArtSpeak) on KRCL-FM Community Radio. In 1998 Marilyn Scharine received KRCL's "Stephen Holbrook Vision Quest Award". For many years Marilyn was a dedicated worker for the Utah Democratic Party, particularly as precinct chair and voting organizer for House District 30. For many she chaired the Arts Division of the Utah Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters, and was to take over as President of the Academy in 2002. Marilyn passed away on July 9, 2002.

Biography taken from Marilyn Scharines' obituary.