Marilyn Anne Crosby, 80, of Lexington Park, MD passed away on July 16, 2026, at Hospice House in Callaway, MD with her loving family at her side.
She was born on March 21, 1946, in Washington D.C. to the late Edward Mauder Jr. and Audrey Anne Bartenbach DeBord. She married the love of her life, Thomas Harvey Crosby, on March 28, 1970, in Upper Marlboro, MD and celebrated over 56 wonderful years of marriage. She is survived by her beloved husband, Thomas Harvey Crosby; children: son, Thomas Walter Crosby of Annapolis, MD, former daughter-in-law: Angie Weiland Crosby of Annapolis, MD; daughter, Stacey Anne Crosby Bahr (Matthew) of Hollywood, MD and son, Edmund Charles Crosby (Jennifer) of Bowie, MD; brothers: Michael DeBord (Wanda) of Solomons, MD; Walter DeBord (Bonnie) of Berlin, MD and Mickey Mauder of Michigan; grandchildren: Blake Bahr, Josie Bahr, and Ransom Bahr; Summer Crosby; and Liam Crosby, and extended family and friends. She is preceded in death by her mother, Audrey Anne Bartenbach DeBord, her father, Charles Leroy DeBord, and her biological father, Edward Mauder Jr. In addition to her parents, she is also preceded in death by her brother, Kenny Mauder.
Marilyn earned her Bachelor’s degree in Social Studies Education from the University of Maryland and a Master’s degree in Special Education from Bowie State University. She began teaching in Prince George’s County before coming to St. Mary’s County and teaching Social Studies at Chopticon High School. After taking time to raise her children, she taught at Leonard Hall Junior Naval Academy. However, her involvement was never limited to the classroom. She headed their band, and took the students on various field trips, including the World’s Fair, New York City, Pittsburgh, and various historical, camping and fishing trips. After earning her Master’s degree, she became an advocate for improving education and wrote countless letters to the editor about education. She taught Special Education at Green Holly Elementary, and later at Piney Point Elementary, where she founded their computer club and where she retired after a long and dedicated career working with many children, who she inspired to learn. She proudly served on the Citizens Advisory Council and was elected twice to the St Mary’s County Board of Education, where she advocated for lower class sizes and teacher’s rights.
Marilyn did enough in one day to rival most people’s weekly accomplishments. She woke before the sun and went swimming on base, was always one of the first to enter her school and always left with the building attendants. She’d then head home, where she cooked for her family daily and spent the rest of her evening planning lessons for her students. She utilized her weekends caring for her mother and grandmother, and her favorite person on earth, her Grandma Anne, who moved in with the family before her passing.
Marilyn’s love language was certainly gift-giving. She would often buy a small gift for every student, teacher, and faculty member at her school. Christmases at the Crosby home were a bit of a marathon. Her husband, Tom, was powerless in her pursuits to outdo any previous Christmas, and her addiction became even worse upon the birth of her grandchildren. Her children always had to have on a poker face for the various, fascinating, souvenirs she would present from her travels. She also proudly spoiled herself and loved showing up with a new piece of jewelry for herself, and even surprised poor Tom with some car purchases, including a red Ford Mustang.
Marilyn’s introduction to St Mary’s County was in 1967 when her and Tom rented a skiff at Kopel’s Marina and tried to learn how to fish in the lower Potomac. At some point she and Tom bought a 7 HP Sears outboard motor because that made the rental less expensive. When she got engaged, she didn’t want a ring, she wanted a boat. They bought a 20-foot Deagle skiff with a cuddy cabin and a hardtop and converted it from an inboard to an outboard. She spent decades working on a series of different and sometimes better boats.
Beyond Marilyn’s love of fishing, she enjoyed countless trips to places such as Europe, Hawaii, Sedona, and Canada, many with her friends from the Retired Teacher Association. Marilyn loved animals and every stray in the area knew they had a safe place to rest. Marilyn never told her children no and allowed them to bring home snakes, iguanas, ferrets, birds, and even a snapping turtle that lived in the bathtub. Marilyn had the crazy talent of finding box turtles. She won a contest as a young child to find the most and upon request, would easily bring one home to her kids from her daily walks around Esperanza Farm. When asked how she could find them, she simply told her kids she could hear them. Marilyn loved dogs and cats, and raised multiple litters of Labrador Retrievers, kittens from a stray that hitched a ride home from Chincoteague, VA, and had too many spoiled dogs and cats to list. Her dogs brought her great joy during the years of her limited movement, including her German Wirehaired Pointers, and her Labs.
Marilyn would never allow boredom to enter her universe, and her children benefited from her constant need for excitement. This led to various activities, like traveling to Virginia on top- secret missions to purchase fireworks for the kids, 8-hour long fishing trips on a johnboat, taking her grandchildren on an American Girl shopping spree in New York City, and benefitting from her countless hobbies, such as a short fondue making stint. She had no fear of pursuing new hobbies, like becoming an expert in growing Rhododendrons. Even after creating her master business plan for selling the plants, she simply gifted them all away to neighbors, and you can often still see them in their yards. Marilyn’s hobbies also included woodworking, taking woodworking classes to learn how to build tables, and gifting her creations to friends. Marilyn even took an auto mechanics class to learn how to rebuild a carburetor.
Marilyn was never afraid of a fight and always fought for anyone she loved. Her brother lovingly tells the story of Marilyn beating up two boys in the neighborhood that were mean to him. Her kids often hid things from her because they knew she’d attack anyone who crossed them with vengeance. When her middle school aged son attended sleep away camp for soccer, she lovingly (and against all rules) drove her LTD Crown Victoria onto the soccer field to deliver him McDonald’s when the cafeteria food would not suffice. She used that same passion to win in various competitions, whether the reasonable person would consider them to be so. Fishing with her family, Board of Education elections, and even informal games with her grandchildren, were never safe from her fervor, dedication, and need-to-win attitude.
Marilyn was the ultimate student and a lifetime learner. She thrived in school and was a member of various clubs. In true Marilyn fashion, she was the teacher’s pet during the week, and the ultimate socializer on the weekend, enjoying parties with friends and trips to Ocean City. She maintained her same high school friends for life and relished her Frederick Sasser High School reunions. She was a prolific writer, and her dream was to compile a book of her editorials and ideals for education, especially special education. After her retirement, she relished trivia games and adored learning about her grandchildren’s studies in school, attending many Grandparent’s Days and school events, even if it was simply stopping by for lunchtime. She loved sports and probably missed her time to be a true female athlete by 40 years, as many sports catered to boys in her time. However, she did not miss her time to be a true Washington Redskins fan, and would watch her favorite team play every Sunday, Monday, or Thursday (and even got to see a few Super Bowls!). She loved throwing a ball (and was quite good at it) and walked and swam daily. She would often scare her children by swimming in any scary body of water they were near, despite the waves and/or critters. As fearless as she was, she was always worried about her children’s safety and that was of the utmost importance to her.
Marilyn suffered with her movement issues for several years, and she never gave up on a deep desire to find a reason for her illness or work harder in physical therapy to gain movement. Her strength and determination carried until her final breath. She will be desperately missed by her family and friends. Take this obituary as your sign to “Keep up the Good Fight,” go out on a fishing trip with your loved ones, or take a summer eve walk and look for a turtle in remembrance.
All Services will be private. A celebration of life will be held July 28 from 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm at: Sandgates Inn, 27525 N Sandgates Rd, Mechanicsville, MD 20659. Please join us to celebrate Marilyn with her favorite pastimes; stories about herself, crabs, sweets, and beer.
Memorial contributions in Marilyn’s memory may be made to: Hospice of St. Mary’s, P.O. Box 625, Leonardtown, MD 20650 and/or LABFISHING.org.
Condolences to the family at www.brinsfieldsfuneral.com
Arrangements provided by the Brinsfield Funeral Home, P.A.
To send a flower arrangement in memory of Marilyn Anne Crosby, please click here to visit our sympathy store.