Marilyn Neel Featherstone

Marilyn Featherstone, 90, was born in Corsicana, Texas to Max T. Neel and Stella Archer Neel. She grew up a preacher’s daughter and married a preacher. She spent her entire life carrying the message of Christ to people that others didn’t want to know…and places that other people didn’t want to go.

After graduating from Waco High School in 1949, she went on to earn a degree in Elementary Education from Abilene Christian University. While at ACU, she met and married John Henry Featherstone. They shared a deep passion for the lost, the hurting, the incarcerated, and the broken…and spent 48 years together making a difference in the lives of those very people. They served together in several cities in Texas, remote jungles in Africa, the slums of the Caribbean, and rust-belt cities in the Northeast.

In 1991, they decided it was time to retire, move back home to Texas, and be close to their kids and grandkids. They settled in Decatur. “Retirement” didn’t work for either of them. They needed people to help, so she took a full-time position with the Wise County Sheriff’s Office and he became the Staff Chaplain of the Wise County Jail.

When “Papa John” died in 1999, Sheriff Ryan asked her to add the jail chaplaincy to her responsibilities in his office and she gladly agreed. She spent 25 years serving the Wise County Sheriff’s Office. They were the most rewarding, most fulfilling, years of her life.

She was welcomed Home by her husband John, her daughter Mari Lyn, her little sister Carol Chance, her mom and dad, and countless people who found their way Home because she showed them the way.

Honoring her life here are her son, John, and his wife Kay…her grandchildren; Jenna Silvers and her husband Stacy, Jay Featherston and his wife Jennifer…her great grandchildren; Luke Silvers, MaryLee Silvers, Jack Silvers, and Lily Featherston…and so many of you whose lives she touched and made better.

Her family invites you to join them for a time of visiting and remembering at Hawkins Funeral Home in Decatur from 6:00-8:00 PM Friday evening. A celebration of her life will be held at Hawkins—Sunday afternoon at 2:00.

She was a relentless supporter of the Serenity Church mission to the addicted, hurting, hungry, and homeless. In lieu of flowers, please consider a gift to that ministry in her name. SERENITY CHURCH, PO Box 560487, The Colony, TX, 75056