Obituary of Marlin Rife

Marlin C. Rife went home to his Lord and Savior on January 16, 2014 after a 15 month bout with esophageal cancer. The cancer did not win because it is truly gone. Marlin lives on with his heavenly Father. Born in Tipton, IA, January 12, 1942, to Glen and Stella Thumma Rife, he grew up with three sisters, Nancy, Janet, and Glenda, graduated high school, and attended State College of Iowa, now known as the University of Northern Iowa. On September 9, 1960, he married his highschool sweetheart, Sharon Carbaugh, and they settled in Cedar Rapids, IA and had two sons, Brad and Greg. In 1965, they moved with their babies to Burbank, CA. After living several different places, they settled in Simi Valley in 1981. Marlin was always known for helping others and enjoyed working for many volunteer organizations. He coached children's basketball at Parks and Recreation, worked with Red Cross and Big Brothers in fund raising, and moved lots of books around for Simi Valley Friends of the Library. His real love was being Cubmaster and Scoutmaster for Boy Scouts for close to ten years. He enjoyed the monthly camp-outs and spent a few weeks at summer camps with the large troop, including Yosemite and Emerald Bay on Catalina. For 35 years, he worked at ITT Gilfillan, where he enjoyed the reputation of solving problems, serving his boss well, and being a good boss himself. After a few years of retirement, he went back to doing temp work for them for several months each year for four years. He was always known for his organizational skills, meticulous record-keeping, and neat handwriting - even used a ruler sometimes. These skills served him well as he inventoried and organized the tools and supplies in the garage at Stonebridge Community Church where he worked with Building and Grounds. In retirement, Marlin and Sharon enjoyed traveling in their motor home and spending several months a year in Iowa. They visited all states except Hawaii and considered themselves truly blessed for many years. Preceeded in death by parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, survivors are wife Sharon, sons Brad (Sabrina) Simi Valley, Greg (Stacy) Burbank, and four grandsons, Nick, Ryan, Andrew, James; sisters Nancy Burroughs (Ron), Janet Wehde (Ruel), Glenda Thys (Bob) all of Tipton, Uncle Harold Thumma (Deloris) Anamosa, IA, many cousins, nieces and nephews. Services will be on saturday January 25, 2014 at 11:00am at StoneBridge Community Church, 4832 Cochran St., Simi Valley, CA, 805.526-5475. Preferred charities: Boy Scouts of America, Salvation Army, StoneBridge Community Church, TLC Hospice (Moorpark).