MaryLou (Rank) Ault

            Mary Louise “MaryLou” Ault (nee Rank) of Marion passed away peacefully on September 23, 2020 at Country Club Rehabilitation Center in Delaware, Ohio, following a tenacious struggle to recover from a devastating stroke that occurred October 18, 2019.

Born at home in Nevada, Ohio, January 6, 1939, as the first child of Maxine Snavely Rank and Gilbert Rank, Sr., MaryLou grew up in Marion and graduated from Harding High School in 1957. After graduation, she worked as a civilian employee of the military, first at the Marion Depot and, following a promotion, in Columbus.  She enjoyed her career and succeeded in it, but left the workforce in 1962 to raise her family.  Prior to her marriage, she briefly attended The Ohio State University, earning a 4.0 GPA. She transferred her dreams of education to her children.  In order to  ensure her children’s college opportunities, MaryLou re-entered the workforce  in the mid-1970’s, starting a new career at The Smith Clinic and Hospital, first as a switchboard operator and then advancing to the business office, where she handled accounts vital to the hospital and to patient care. She enjoyed this work, too, until her retirement in 1994.

            MaryLou was a life-long learner, a volunteer in a number of community groups and volunteer projects, and an active member of her church communities.  In Marion, she volunteered for the Community Action Coalition’s medical clinics and was a member of After Five Professional Women’s Association for many years. In her second home, in Okeechobee Florida, she was a member of the Red Hat Society and an active volunteer for her community’s social committee.  Both as a girl and as an adult, MaryLou made many friends, thanks to her lovely disposition, consistent kindness, innate intelligence, and playful sense of humor.  She often took extra time and care to befriend and support people who were newcomers, socially vulnerable, or without friends, always recognizing the human worth of people she met and doing her best to lift them up. 

            MaryLou was known and loved for her sense of adventure and quirky humor. As a young woman, she danced and acted in local theatre productions, traveled independently, and used her income to improve the well-being of her mother.  As she was raising her children, she learned various arts and crafts, including cake decorating, and continued to pursue her education informally through reading, workshops, and volunteerism.  She took up rollerblading, oil painting, and playing mountain dulcimer in her 60’s, thriving in the supportive community of Okeechobee’s Big O Resort.  Throughout her life, she played practical jokes on her children and friends, and found great joy in small things, especially in the natural world. This love of life no doubt contributed to her longevity; in her 40’s, she was diagnosed with a heart problem, and bravely agreed to be one of the first people to undergo a cardiac catheterization at the Cleveland Clinic, by the doctor who invented the procedure; at 64, she survived a quintuple cardiac bypass at Riverside Hospital in Columbus. She made friends among the women she met in cardiac rehab, and organized them into an ongoing support group.  She was grateful for every additional year the procedure added to her life, which extended many years beyond expectations for a survivor of that surgery.

            MaryLou gave her children, Amber and John, a childhood as enriched as possible with both formal and informal education, insisting that the family travel, engage in cultural enrichment activities, and explore a range of interests.  She supported her children in becoming their own people and took an active interest in their lives, passions, and work.  She served as the anchor for her family and always brought out the best in others. She loved musical theatre, wildlife, travel, and pets, especially her feline “grandkits,” as well as people. She was never known to raise her voice or engage in disrespectful behavior, no matter the challenging behaviors that may have been directed toward her.

            MaryLou lived her life centered on the practice of kindness.  She was a loyal wife, a beloved sister and sister-in-law, an adored mother, and a deeply valued friend, community member, and colleague. She was an active member of Oakland Methodist Church in Marion and First United Church in Okeechobee, Florida. She was courageous and determined, and faced life with a rare combination of clarity, graciousness, good humor, meaningful endurance and joy.   She was kind even to people who caused her harm, because of her belief in quiet resistance and persistence.  She will be missed by all who knew her.

            She was preceded in death by her parents, Gilbert Rank Sr. and Maxine Snavely Rank, and by her aunt Marjorie Rank, all of whom she actively cared for at the ends of their lives; and dear cousins, Patricia Rank McGuire and Christine Rank Vogel.   She is survived by her brother, James Gilbert (Vicki) Rank, Jr of Marion; Damon Ault, her husband of 60 years of Marion and Okeechobee FL; and her children, Dr. Amber Ault (former son-in-law Bruce Wheeler) of Madison, Wisconsin and Columbus, Ohio, and son John (Julie) Ault of Port St. Lucie, Florida.  In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorial gifts be given in MaryLou’s honor to The American Heart Association, the Gerlach Center at Riverside Hospital, or the Public Libraries of Marion Ohio or Okeechobee Florida.

           Friends and family may call Monday, September 28, 2020 at the Boyd-Born Funeral Home from 10am to 11am with a graveside service taking place at 11:30am at Chapel Heights Memory Gardens 

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of MaryLou (Rank) Ault, please visit our floral store.