Marianne Holt Ausseresses

Marianne was a child of Dust Bowl refugees. Her father, James Crawford Holt, and mother, Flora Collier Holt, migrated from Oklahoma to California in 1931 with their son Milton and dog Gretchen in tow. They settled in Santa Rosa, California, and Marianne was born soon thereafter. Perhaps her love for fried green tomatoes and okra came from her Okie bloodline (she was, after all, conceived in Oklahoma). No one is really sure where her “r” in wash came from, as in, “the only business trip your father ever took me on was to Warshington.”

Marianne kept her brother Milt on his toes. He never failed to show the scar from the time she (accidentally) hit him on the forehead with a hoe; she never failed to mention that he had been chasing her with a BB gun. She adored her big brother.

James and Flora made a nice life for their family. Through hard work, James became the sole proprietor of a successful dry-cleaning business. The family enjoyed trips to the Mendocino coast to surf fish and catch abalone. They had an active social circle in large part due to their association with the Masonic organization. James was a Shriner and Flora was a member of the Daughters of the Nile. Marianne joined Jobs Daughters as a youth and was active in the Masonic organization her entire life. She was awarded her 70-year pin for Eastern Star in 2020. Throughout the years she served as a Worthy Grand Matron of the Eastern Star, Queen of Daughters of the Nile, and a Most Worthy High Priestess of the White Shrine of Jerusalem.

In 1937, when Marianne was six, the family was driving toward San Francisco. When she asked her mother why there were so many cars on the road her mother replied that it was a historic day. Indeed, it was! That was the day the Golden Gate Bridge opened to the public and they were going to drive across it.

When she was seven, she got her first job. It was picking plums at a nearby orchard for five cents per box. She diligently saved her nickels because her mother told her she would take her to San Francisco to buy school clothes. Even though she quit picking fruit after that first year, the trip across the Golden Gate became an annual mother-daughter outing. Other early jobs included cutting fruit (for dehydration) and working behind the candy counter at Kress’s, the local five-and-dime. She always had a sweet tooth, so Kress’s was a dream job.

As a pre-teen during World War II, she volunteered with her mother in the Ground Observer Corps, sitting on the roof of the Santa Rosa Courthouse looking for enemy planes through binoculars.

Marianne attended Santa Rosa High School where she lettered in girls’ basketball (people always ask where her daughters got their athletic genes). She also attended and graduated from Santa Rosa Junior College, where she met Frederic Diderot Ausseresses who she married in 1953, produced four children with, and rightfully divorced in 1976.

She loved her children – Tony, Alex, Collette, Annette – with the ferocity of a mama bear. She doted on them as kids, and made sure they were appropriately dressed, well mannered, and educated. She made sure they each had a library card, a savings account, and a coin for the ice cream truck. She taught them how to swim, throw a ball, cast a fishing line, and ride a bike. She took them horseback riding, hiking, read to them, taught the girls to sew, served as the boys’ cub scout master, and compiled scrapbooks to preserve memories for them. She made sure the kids had pets – dogs, cats, gerbils, fish, birds – and didn’t shriek too loudly when they brought home snakes, frogs, and spiders. She attended her daughters’ sporting events and allowed her sons to use the carport and driveway as an auto-repair shop.

Her three youngest were teens when she became a single mother and they were, to put it mildly, rambunctious. She gave them everything she could on a secretary’s salary, including a few ‘Get out of Jail Free’ cards. The kids are really sorry for all the phone calls they made to her at work to report fights and injustices. Even though the kids didn’t make it easy for her, she did what she could for them which often meant sacrificing what she had or what she wanted for what her children needed or wanted. She was extraordinary in that regard. Sometimes those sacrifices cut deep.

She is survived by her children: Tony (Terrie), Alex (Laurie), Collette (Stephen), and Annette (John); six grandchildren: Andre, Jason, Deidra, Andrew, Sydney, and Kayden; eight great-grandchildren: Perle, Monroe, Isabella, Addison, Giorgia, Gemma, Troy, and Cliff; her niece Lisa; and her nieces-in-law Robin, Kristi, Rachel, Becky, and Jan.

Marianne was an inventor, of sorts. Before she got a salad spinner she would put the lettuce in the washing machine on the spin cycle. Before she got her first microwave she would put the frozen meat in the dishwasher on the heat cycle. And just for the record, no one got food poisoning.

One of her best inventions, lest anyone else take credit for it, was the mini bottle hunt – hiding mini bottles of liquor instead of Easter eggs. If you know anything about the history of Utah liquor laws, you know mini bottles used to be as common as temple mints. They have since been outlawed, so in recent years she had her daughter smuggle them in from California. Tsk tsk. Speaking of holidays, she loved them. She had boxes full of decorations for every holiday and always made them special.

She never could master the iPhone. Lord knows she tried. And tried. She did master the ‘up’ volume button on the television remote control, the ‘+’ button on the house thermostat, Windows 7, and the lawn mower and snow blower (both of which she continued to use, against advice, until she was 88).

She played bridge, square danced (including one time on roller skates in an empty swimming pool that didn’t end so well), belly danced (and had abs that could have graced the cover of a fitness magazine), hiked mountains as a member of the Wasatch Mountain Club, participated in dozens of Volksmarch events, walked the Bay to Breakers, played tennis and golf, skied into her 70s, went down a water slide when she was 80, rode an adult tricycle, paddled a kayak, and went swimming when she was 90.

She volunteered at her children’s elementary school when they were young, then moved on to working at the Soil Conservation Service (now known as the Natural Resources Conservation Service) and finally the U.S. Forest Service, from which she retired in 2000. While with the Forest Service signed up to work at the base camp of forest fires. She loved that experience and did it many times.

After retiring from the government, she spent many years working at the Salt Lake Masonic Temple. She also volunteered at Shriner Children’s Hospital, Cottonwood Presbyterian Church, and was on the board of the Federal Employees Credit Union.

She beat lymphoma in her late 70s. Recovered from a heart attack and stroke in her late 80s. At 92, she endured surgery to remove cancerous masses in her breast and colon. At 94.9 she tried to kick old age, but it kicked back.

She had spunk, a great sense of humor, and a sparkle in her blue eyes. She was an amazing woman and will be dearly missed. Our love for her transcends this earth.

A Celebration of Life will be held on Tuesday, September 29, 2026 from 6:00 – 8:00 PM at Starks Funeral Parlor, 3651 South 900 East. Guests are encouraged to use the parking and entrance on the north side of the building.

In Lieu of flowers, please make a contribution in her name to Shriners Children’s hospital.