Lyndia Marek Obituary

Lyndia Colleen Jones Marek, 87, went home to be with her Lord and Savior in the early hours of July 25, 2025. She was born April 28, 1938 in Troup, Texas to Charlie Andrew Jones, Sr. and Perna Fay Lloyd Jones. After moving around East Texas and attending twelve schools in twelve years, she graduated from Tyler High School and then went on to Stephen F. Austin State College where she earned a degree in secondary education. She began her nearly 40-year-long teaching career in Smiley where she taught science, reading, writing, spelling, and "auditorium" for two years. During this time, she met the love of her life, Clarence Edward Marek, and they married in December, 1963. She then taught one year in Hallettsville before coming to Gonzales High School, where she spent 29 years educating young adults on business math, bookkeeping, typing, English, and the simple virtues of life. She also taught math and accounting classes for Victoria College at Warm Springs, and soon after she retired from the high school and began teaching English at VC Gonzales along with her best friend and sister-in-law, the late Sandy Marek. She placed a very high value on education and passed that along to over 5,000 students in Gonzales County, as well as her own children and grandchildren.

Outside the classroom, she applied her bookkeeping knowledge as she handled the finances for all of the Marek family's businesses through the years: the Montgomery Ward (and later JC Penney) catalog store, Marek Farm, Clarence Studio, and Marek Fencing. When she wasn't keeping the books, she could be found helping birth pigs in a hailstorm, putting out hay for cattle when it snowed, or feeding turkeys at two in the morning. Colleen's dedication to First Evangelical Lutheran Church of Gonzales was steadfast, and she served the church in nearly every capacity: as church secretary, singing in the choir, altar guild, playing the piano and organ, teaching Sunday School and VBS, reading scripture during Sunday worship, women's group and bible studies, and multiple church boards. Though she retired from her secretary role in 2013, she continued to help out whenever needed and found a dear friend in current secretary Peggy White.

Colleen was a member of Delta Kappa Gamma, National Association of Teachers of English, and Retired Teachers, and in her little free time, she enjoyed performing in community choirs for holiday programs and was a project leader for 4-H for many years. In recent years, her favorite pastime was playing Hand and Foot with her friends, the Lutheran Card Sharks. At home she was known as a farm hand, published poet, chief cook and bottle washer, seamstress, bookkeeper, and hostess of Sunday dinner every week until the very end of her life. She had so much love to give to those who knew her well, whether that came in the form of a quilt or a coconut cake–always made from scratch, of course.

Colleen was a daughter, sister, wife, mother, aunt, teacher, friend, and "Nanny," as her beloved grandchildren called her. Her last days were spent at home surrounded by family and friends that are like family. They are all comforted knowing she is in a better place.

She is preceded in death by her parents Charlie Jones, Sr. and Fay Jones; husband Clarence Edward Marek; grandson Morgan Zane Marek; sister and brother-in-law Rita Jones and Charles Kelly; and brother-in-law and sister-in-law Alan and Sandy Marek.

She is survived by her brother Charlie Jones, Jr. (Rachel) of Whitehouse; brother-in-law Walter Marek of Gonzales; son Clay Marek (Lori) of Gonzales; daughter Carol Oakes (Kevin) of Gonzales; and grandchildren Emma Kate Marek, Cody Oakes, and Brady Oakes, all of Gonzales. Also surviving are three generations of nieces and nephews, who she loved very much.

The family will receive friends Monday, July 28, 2025 in Seydler-Hill Funeral Home from 5 pm to 7 pm. Funeral services will be held at 10 am Tuesday, July 29, 2025 in the First Lutheran Church with Pastor Mark Nygard officiating. Interment will follow in the Gonzales Memorial Park Cemetery. Pallbearers are Cody Oakes, Brady Oakes, Roger Kelly, Homer Dickey, Randy Berger, and Brian Buesing. Honorary pallbearers are Eli Dickey, Leonard Revelle, Ralph Van Cleave, and Kurt Van Cleave.

In lieu of flowers, please consider making a memorial donation in Colleen's name to First Evangelical Lutheran Church Gonzales, Heart to Heart Hospice, American Cancer Society, or Leukemia And Lymphoma Society. Friends may leave their condolences to the family by visiting www.seydlerhillfuneralhome.com.

Services are under the care and direction of Seydler-Hill Funeral Home.