Marion McIsaac

Marion Dron McIsaac Ojai, CA Marion Dron McIsaac, passed away on Sunday, Jan 15, 2012. Marion came to live in the Ojai Valley in the 1950's with her husband John Dron Jr. and spent the rest of her life here, living and working in this beautiful valley. Born Marion Grace Benedict in Evanston, Illinois on Feb 28, 1928, where her father had a job teaching at Northwestern University she considered herself “native Californian born in exile”. Both her parents were from California and they soon returned to Berkeley CA. She grew up sailing the San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento River delta on her father’s boat the Altura. In 1941 at the age of 13, she sailed with her father and brother from Virginia to San Francisco through the Panama Canal, one of the great adventures of her life. Adventures large and small were part of her lifelong philosophy. She graduated from the UC Berkeley in 1949 and entered the workplace teaching school in Bodfish CA (near Kernville). In 1953 she married John Dron Jr. and with him moved to Fairbanks, Alaska where they lived five miles out of town with no running water, while she was pregnant she with her first child. After the birth the baby, they moved back to the Ojai Valley, to raise a family of three children; Katherine, Dorothy and John. A lifelong learner herself she loved to teach and was a school teacher with the Ventura School District for 25 years. During the 70’s she built two houses in the Ojai Valley, the first with Howard Kaufman and then a second with her family as crew. In the 1980's she met and married Don McIsaac with whom she had a number of adventures, traveling to numerous countries. She covered much of the globe in her roaming, having a passion for travel and the Far East. Marion is survived by her immediate family: Katherine Dron of Ashland, OR, Dorothy Dron-Smith of Ojai, and John Dron of Orem, UT, her grand children Genevieve Dron-Smith, Ian Dron-Smith, Christopher Dron and Andrew Dron She is also survived by her McIsaac family (too numerous to mention) who took her into their hearts and made her welcome. She faced her death as she did her life on her own terms, head into the wind and looking forward to the next adventure. She will be missed. A memorial gathering will be held March 17th 2012, 1724 Ladera Rd Ojai, time to be announced. Please contact the family for further details. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Ojai Valley Land Conservancy.