Marilyn W. Rouse, age 87

Just before the twilight hours of May 4, 2026, cast forth in its unveiled brilliance on a new day, Marilyn W. Rouse was called to leave this Earth and assume a place beside her Lord. She was 87. Born February 11, 1939, in Jacksboro, Tennessee, Marilyn Kay Wheeler was the first child of prominent local businessman Edward F. Wheeler and his wife Veatta. She was raised with the best of everything with attention to manners and decorum yet with modest humility continued to be her hallmark for the rest of her life.

After graduating from Campbell County High, she entered the University of Tennessee where she was a member of the Delta Delta Delta Sorority. She continued to see Jim Rouse, her hometown sweetheart, and was always by his side at her sorority dances and at his Sigma Chi social events. Then, on one propitious weekend, Jim and Marilyn went out of town. Upon their return to Knoxville, Jim went back to the fraternity house, and she went back to her dormitory; thus began the classic love story that everyone aspires to: the inseparable husband and wife, for they remained each other’s constant for the next 64 years.

Despite their frequent early moves, wherever the Rouse family was – Memphis, Montgomery, Louisa, Knoxville, or Oak Ridge – it was Marilyn who was the immersed, attentive wife; the caring, nurturing mother; the attentive, doting grandmother and great-grandmother. Always ‘on the job’, this angel who walked among us had a heart way too big for her petite frame, the mild (yet effective) disciplinarian, the greatest cheerleader, the most trusted of confidants, and the softest shoulder on which to cry. In all things and in every aspect, she was everyone’s everything. Her husband cherished her until his final day on this Earth. Her children continue to worship still the very ground upon which she walked. Her grandchildren will forever carry an everlasting piece of the heart given to them by their beloved ‘Mernie’.

Marilyn was preceded in death by the man she cherished for over six decades, her husband Jame M. Rouse, MD, her parents Edward, Sr. and Veatta Wheeler, and her brothers Edward, Jr. and infant brother Benjamin. Marilyn is survived by her daughter Ellen R. Werner (John) and her sons James Scott Rouse (Ambre) and Edward Mitchell Rouse (Andrea); her grandchildren Jay (Emily), Sam (Avery), Tennessee Rouse, Strummer Rouse, and great-grandson, Jacob Werner; and her sister Lorenda Castleberry.

Graveside Service and Interment 10 am Saturday, May 9, 2026 at Jacksboro Cemetery.

Arrangements are being made through Cross-Smith Funeral Home (LaFollette).