Marilyn A. Toth's Obituary
Marilyn Abbie Toth, 68, passed away from Alzheimer's on September 22, 2022. Marilyn was born in Stafford Springs, Connecticut to William and Lucille Toth. She met William Pohl in 1987, and later married him at Mohonk Mountain House in upstate New York. After graduating from McGill University, Marilyn embarked on a 40 year career as a high school art teacher in New Canaan and Westbrook, Connecticut. She mastered painting, ceramics, sculpture and photography and was loved and admired by generations of students, including the children of Saturday Night Live celebrities Bill Murray and Chevy Chase. While teaching, she earned a master's degree at New York University where she met British artist, photographer, and Artforum magazine editor John Coplans who also "discovered" Andy Warhol. Coplans recognized Marilyn's talent, offered her an apprenticeship and credited her with taking iconic body images of this 70-year-old man, on permanent exhibit in the Tate Modern Museum in London and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Marilyn's other photographs appeared in galleries and in The New York Times. She participated in a teaching exchange program in China. Perhaps most memorable was how she turned her entire classroom into a working pinhole camera, and a whimsical student project that featured life-sized plaster likenesses of renowned artists seated around a dinner table, with, for example, Vincent van Gogh playfully eating his severed ear. After 2000, Marilyn and her husband divided time between a childhood cottage in Niantic, Connecticut that her father built by the sea and renovating an 18th century home outside Amherst, Massachusetts. The couple founded Mooncreek Farm and grew heirloom tomatoes and other organic produce. They built a landmark Japanese torii gate overlooking mountain views, and Marilyn served Hungarian family recipes at farm-to-table gatherings held under a towering sugar maple tree. Resilient until the end, Marilyn overcame early health problems, including a lung operation performed by Hiester Richard Hornberger Jr., the Korean War army surgeon who penned the novel MASH. She went on to lead an active life, kayaking and biking, and hiking with her husky companions. She accompanied her husband on world travels from backpacking treks to Yosemite and the French Alps to an Atlantic crossing on an ocean liner. She escorted students through Europe and Russia. Marilyn is survived by her husband, her brother, William Toth Jr., cousins, Edward and Patty Toth, and friends in Florida and North Carolina where she retired. A viewing will be held on Wednesday, October 5, 2022 at 10 A.M. at Introvigne Funeral Home, Inc., 51 East Main St., Stafford Springs, CT. A graveside service will follow at 11 A.M. at Stafford Springs Cemetery, Monson Rd., Stafford Springs, CT. To leave a condolence online for the family, please visit: www.introvignefuneralhome.com
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