Marilyn Lusk Highfield

Marilyn Lusk Highfield died at home under hospice care on June 24, 2025. Marilyn was preceded in death by her husband of 70 years, Charles Bishop Highfield. She leaves behind her daughter Jennifer Highfield, her son Jonathan Highfield and his wife, Cindy Voytas, and their children, Emma Bishop Voytas DeAngelus and her husband Greg, Maud Francis Voytas Highfield, and Fergus Kwesi Voytas Highfield. She is also survived by her sister Sue (Lusk) Davidson, her husband Bill Davidson and their extensive family. She had two siblings precede her in death, Jack Sherwood Lusk and Janice Lusk Leinhart.

Marilyn was the eldest daughter of Virgil Adophus Lusk and Sarah Wright Lusk. She was born in Blanton’s Chapel, Tennessee on October 7, 1933. Marilyn was deeply influenced by her maternal grandparents, A.A. and Addie Maysillis, who helped raise her, and went to Florida Southern University to study elementary education. It was in Florida that she met her husband Charles. Marilyn taught at schools in Lexington, Kentucky, in Memphis, Tennessee, and in Cleveland, Tennessee. When Jonathan was born, Marilyn stepped down from teaching, but she soon found a new avocation in volunteering for the new public library in Lancaster, Kentucky, where Jennifer was born. Until Charlie’s retirement from the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) ministry, Marilyn worked and volunteered at libraries across Kentucky.

Teatime at 4 PM was a requirement at her house, and many anxieties of friends and family dissipated over tea and her cookies around the kitchen table. Marilyn was a fine cook, an avid traveler, a loyal mother and wife, and a deeply committed reader. You rarely saw her without at least one book. She lived her life as her favorite writer, Rod McKuen, insisted, “It doesn’t matter who you love or how you love, but that you love.” She was beautiful and sassy, with a wicked sense of humor and an always listening ear.

She loved us, and we will miss her terribly.