Original MARC/ARCA Employee Marilyn Canale Passes at Age 97

PHOTO: Marilyn Canale, right., on the scorer’s stand during the 1956 Dayton 500 at Dayton Speedway. She is seated next to Suzie Drager, center, and the late Mildred Marcum, left.

Marilyn Canale, an original employee of ARCA founder John Marcum’s Midwest Association for Race Cars (MARC) company in 1953, wife of long time MARC and ARCA Vice President Frank Canale and first cousin of ARCA co-founder Mildred Marcum, passed away after a short illness in her hometown of Waterville, Ohio, September 17, 2019 at the age of 97.

In addition to her clerical and secretarial duties at MARC and ARCA, Marilyn Canale worked at race events from the 1950s through the 1980s as a scorer, ticket seller, in concessions and as office manager at race tracks including Toledo and Flat Rock Speedway and at NASCAR events alongside her late husband Frank. She also had a long career as an executive secretary outside of racing, working for Toledo area companies Pugh Heating, Willys Overland, Mather Spring, and Dana Corporation, from which she retired in 1986. She was born November 30, 1921 in Toledo, Ohio to Edward & Frances (Becker) Schoen and was a 1939 graduate of Toledo Scott High School.

She is survived by her daughter, Sherry Moon of Waterville and many cousins including Suzie Drager, daughter of John and Mildred Marcum. She was preceded in death by her parents, and husbands, Richard Gremling, Donald Beatty and Frank Canale. Visitation is Friday, September 20 from 12 noon until the time of funeral service at 1pm at Peinert-Dunn Funeral Home, 7220 Dutch Rd., Waterville, Ohio. Entombment will follow at Highland Memory Gardens. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions are suggested to Browning Masonic Community whose excellent care the family wishes to acknowledge, American Diabetes Association or the Sight Center of Northwest Ohio. To leave an online memory please visit www.dunnfuneralhome.com.