Anna Marcella (Liston) Ryan

Anna Marcella (Liston) Ryan, 89, of Palestine, IL, passed away on March 10, 2023, at BridgePointe Health Campus in Vincennes, IN. She was born on March 11, 1933, at her paternal grandparents' home near Heathsville, IL, where her parents, Elliot & Alma (Weger) Liston, also lived due to the economic hardships of the Great Depression. Having two sets of parents was such a blessing to young Marcella and her brother, Charles Henry Liston. Their grandparents enjoyed spoiling them, but they also loved to educate their grandchildren. In fact, her grandmother, Laura Edgington Liston, was an 1893 graduate of Central Normal College in Danville, IN, and was always reading and reciting poetry to them. As soon as they were able to make the trek, their grandad, Henry Liston, enjoyed walking them to the Heathsville Store, making many precious memories in the process.

Marcella walked two miles a day to attend McKibben Grade School, and her 1st-3rd grade teacher made such an impression on her that she decided to become a teacher herself. At the completion of her 4th grade year, she was double-promoted to 6th grade, as she had listened to and memorized every lesson from every class in that one-room school house. Following her graduation from grade school in 1946, she began attending Palestine High School. This period of time in her life found her heavily involved with the 4H Busy Bees 4-H Club, in which she was active for ten years, attending the Illinois State Fair in the process. She also took part in FHA and did her part in producing the PHS yearbook before graduating in 1950, but not before making many lifelong friends.

Upon their graduation, the home economics teacher convinced Marcella and a friend to attend Eastern Illinois University, helped them find a private home to live in, and went as far as landing a job for Marcella at the front desk of the new Mary Booth Library. What a blessing! Marcella attended EIU for three years before meeting the love of her life, Jerry Ryan, on a blind date. They were married on March 29, 1952, at the Pleasant View Church. Since he had enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, Marcella finished her junior year and joined him in Texas, later transferring to Albany, GA. It was here that their son, Jerry Dale, was born, and the young family lived on base in Georgia for three years before moving back to Palestine, where their daughter, Linda, was born.

For a time, Marcella worked as a teacher's aide before returning to EIU to finish her degree in 1970. Though she briefly worked as the home economics teacher at Oblong High School, she soon received a call from Palestine Grade School and began what would become a 33-year career of teaching 5th grade. Because Marcella had skipped the 5th grade herself, she always joked with her students that she was there to learn what she had missed! Marcella always said she loved to teach and that she would have continued until she was 80, though she ultimately retired at the age of 71.

In her twilight years, she expressed how she wouldn't have changed her life at all. After all, a lifetime of trials, troubles, and successes all come together to make strong people, and who was Marcella Ryan if not a strong person? We rest in knowing that her influence knows no end; that as a teacher, she affected eternity itself.

She is survived by her daughter & son-in-law, Linda Ryan-Catt & Mark Catt; by her grandchildren, Charles Michael Catt, MaryAnn Elizabeth Catt & her fiancé Dallas Kidwell, and Lindsay Brianna Ryan; by her special cousins, Richard Miller and James C. Weger; as well as a host of other cousins and friends.

She was preceded in death by her husband of 68 years, Jerry Ryan; her son, Jerry Dale Ryan; her parents, Elliot & Alma Liston; and her brother & sister-in-law, Charles Henry & Thelma Liston.

A time of visitation will be held from 4:00-7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, March 14th, at the Goodwine Funeral Home in Palestine. Funeral services will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, March 15th, at the funeral home, with Rev. Tom Akers officiating. For those unable to attend, a live stream of the service will be available on Goodwine Funeral Homes' Facebook page or at www.goodwinefuneralhomes.com/live-stream/live-stream .

Burial will be in the Pleasant View Cemetery. Memorial contributions may be made to either the "Palestine Grant-In-Aid Fund" or the "Pleasant View Cemetery", with envelopes available at the funeral home.