Marshall F. Thayer

Marshall F. Thayer, 66, of Mt. Pleasant, passed away Saturday, May 17, in Iowa City, after a brief battle following a kidney failure.

Marshall was born Jan. 27, 1942, in Tuscumbia, Mo., to F. Paul and Pauline M. Thayer. The Thayers moved to Mt. Pleasant in 1952, where Marshall spent his formative years. Marshall is survived by his sister, Paulette Filz of Portland, Oregon and his three children, Mariella Thayer, Paul Thayer and Tryggvi Thayer, all of Reykjavik, Iceland, and five grandchildren.

Marshall enjoyed few things more than meeting new people and the more different they were, the more he was drawn to them. While he attended Northeast Missouri State Teachers' College (now Truman State University) in Kirksville, Mo., he met his first Icelander and eventually moved to Iceland after he graduated in 1963. Marshall married Asrun Tryggvadottir in Iceland and spent most of the next 16 years there, returning briefly to the United States where he joined the U.S. Air Force and completed officer training. (He and Asrun were divorced in 1983).

For the full obituary, see our May 27 print edition.