Obituary – Marilyn Clent
Marilyn Clent has passed away on Monday 16th November 2009 at the age of 63
Marilyn Clent was raised in Southland and started her softball involvement there as a player and a scorer. She started scoring alongside Elaine and Don Karsten and Mary Craig and was an early pioneer of scoring in New Zealand. When she shifted to Christchurch with her family to Christchurch, she brought the interest in scoring to Canterbury and started teaching others how to score, joining existing scorers Elizabeth Mountford, Kath Cooper and Jack Rochford. Marilyn team scored for the successful Monowai Premier Women's team. Every second Tuesday night in summer Marilyn could be found at Papanui Domain along with a bunch of learner scorers scoring the games. The alternate weeks, they'd all be at Marilyn's place, sitting around her kitchen table going over the games - as her family was banished to the living room! January was the time for Marilyn to become really involved in the sport. With her family farmed off elsewhere, Marilyn would travel around country, scoring at the various tournaments.
Marilyn was the Deputy Chief Scorer for New Zealand for five years and had significant input into the compilation of scorers manuals. In 1986 Marilyn was selected as one of the official scorers for the Women's World Series in Auckland.
Although Marilyn's involvement in softball started to wane in the late 1980's she still kept in touch with what was happening in the scoring fraternity, and more recently could be seen watching her grandchildren play TBall.
Marilyn was a person who gave of herself voluntarily. She was also heavily involved in Marching and Lions, being well respected in those areas as well. But it was her love of her family that kept involved in anything they did.
It was Marilyn's mentoring of scorers that has been a leading force in the success of the Canterbury Scorers Association today. Her mentoring has inspired others to follow in her footsteps and pass their knowledge down. And as it continues it will be because of what Marilyn started on those Tuesday nights around her kitchen table.
