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Marian Best, 90, held a passion for music and tennis

Marian Best
Marian Best

Marian Best, of Williamsburg, died Jan. 16, 2014, five days before her 70th wedding anniversary to her dashing Marine Corp Captain, William.

She was born in Raetihi, New Zealand to Joseph and Eileen Tompsitt Punch. While in Auckland helping her “Auntie Essie” at the greeting station for allied soldiers on R & R leave, she met handsome Bill Best and invited him home. They were married seven months later. While he returned to the war in the Pacific, she was given two days’ notice to board a troop ship to the United States. Although she made her home in the United States, she remained a devoted Kiwi, never relinquishing her New Zealand citizenship.

She raised six children in several east coast cities and in 1961, settled in a historic house on Kimball Avenue in Westfield, N.J. There, one of her many duties was to run interference with the local police for shenanigans of the “Best Boys.” She often threatened to “pack you all off to New Zealand!” When the children were grown, she was able to devote herself to tennis and her real passion of music, organizing bus trips to the New Jersey Symphony for many years.

When Mr. Best retired from AT&T the family moved to the then-pristine Outer Banks, N.C. at Kill Devil Hills. She organized the tennis teams at Colington Harbor and filled buses to the Norfolk Opera with opera fans. Her greatest pleasure was to hear a convert exclaim “That was great!” Her house was a mecca to her children and grandchildren where she presided over many cutthroat Scrabble tournaments while Mr. Best captained sailboat races.

Final retirement to The Williamsburg Landing in 2003 did not lessen Mrs. Best’s enthusiasm for tennis and the opera. Gathering music lovers, she again organized bus trips to the Norfolk Opera. Mrs. Best and her husband traveled to New Zealand and Europe several times. At age 87, with an injured rotator cuff, she retired from tennis competitions. The remainder of her time at the Landing was spent caring for her husband who had lost his sight. Last spring, her extended family gathered to celebrate her turning 90.

Mrs. Best is preceded in death by her sons, Warwick (Rick) and Jeffrey.

She is survived by her sweetheart, Bill; children, Kerry and Raymond Johnson, of Santa Fe, N.M., Michael and Patricia Best, of Lakeville, Conn., Peter and Michele Best, of Basking Ridge, N.J. and Leslie and Christopher Rich, of Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.; daughter-in-law, Caroline Best, of Shawnee, Kan.; grandchild, Jeffrey Alan Best and his wife, Janna; and seven other grandchildren. She also leaves behind her dear friend, Anne Beard.

A funeral mass will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 23, 2014, at St Bede Roman Catholic Church, 3686 Ironbound Road, Williamsburg. Cremation is being handled by Nelsen Funeral Home in Williamsburg.

Donations in lieu of flowers can be made to the Virginia Opera.

Please leave online condolences for the family at Nelsen Funeral Home.

 

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