Marilyn Hazel Coburn, 95, died peacefully in her Provincetown home Sunday, December 26, 2021. She was predeceased by her husband, David M. Colburn in 1995.
Marilyn was born to Ethel and Fred B. Pilkington of Allendale, New Jersey on June 4, 1926. The elder of two daughters, she graduated from Ridgewood NJ High School. She then graduated from Virginia Intermont College in Bristol, VA, majoring in French language. She worked as a bi-lingual secretary at La Société Générale, the New York branch of a French bank.
In 1948 Marilyn married David M. Colburn, Jr., a WWII Navy veteran. Together they raised four children.
Marilyn’s sister Joan introduced her to Provincetown in 1956. It was instant love, and family vacations to the town followed in ensuing years. In 1965 she began managing Mayo’s Cape Codder Guest House until 1974. In 1968, the family relocated to Provincetown permanently, purchasing the former Freeman’s General Store property on Commercial Street. Shortly after, in 1969, Marilyn wrote a lively calypso-style song for good friend Vincent Parris, whose steel band Magic and the Boomerangs played at the then-Governor Prence in Truro.
Although ideas for a song about Provincetown were beginning to form in her head, song-writing had to be put aside for a time as David M. Colburn & Son Builders grew, along with newly-formed Colburn Real Estate, from which she retired in 2000. Marilyn still found time, however, to sing in the choir for several years at St. Mary of the Harbor, serve as a board member of the Heritage Museum, sing with the Provincetown Choral Society, and serve as secretary for the Provincetown Chamber of Commerce, all while continuing to raise a family.
Sometime after David’s passing, Marilyn began work on a book and in 2015 published Maudie and Sophie, a story of good friends that had readers asking for a sequel, and with the town library hosting a well-attended reading.
Around the same time, Marilyn began working on music again, although worsening eyesight made it more and more difficult. Gathering her courage, she called Peter Donnelly, well-known local musician and co-founder of the Coffeehouse at the Mews, whom she had heard sing at Council on Aging luncheons, and told him she had some songs she’d like to share with him. They began to rehearse together, she singing songs she composed while waiting for sleep to come at night (she called them her “insomnia collection”) and he putting chords to the music. Her long-ago Provincetown song became a joint effort, and over the next ten years the two performed many times at the Mews to enthusiastic audiences. At Marilyn’s ninetieth birthday, she and now dear friend Peter sang for proud family members so happy to see her realize her dream.
Marilyn is survived by sons David Colburn III of Dennisport, Paul F. Colburn of Truro, Peter J. Colburn of Easley, SC and daughter, Kathleen M. Blake of Hanover, PA. She also leaves six grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren and many friends.
Family and friends are invited to a Memorial Service, to be held at 3:00 pm on Saturday, January 22nd at St Mary of the Harbor Episcopal Church, 517 Commercial St, Provincetown.