Marlys Arenson

 Marlys Malmsten Arenson was born at St. Mary’s Hospital to Rev. H. Wyman & Amy (Groff) Malmsten on Sept. 2, 1933. She was the eldest of three children & grew up knowing Jesus loved her & Praying was important. Her parents & all four of her grandparents were active members of Bethlehem Baptist Church & Marlys followed their lead. At age 8 she asked Jesus for the forgiveness of her sins and at age 12 was baptized.

She attended Minnehaha Academy & loved singing hymns in chapel & listening to the preaching. She spent Summers at Bible Camp & they were a spiritual highlight. Chapel services taught her about making her life right with God & her relationship with Jesus grew stronger each year. No wonder she ended up working at Trout Lake Camp on permanent staff for four years! She also led vacation bible school in rural Minnesota & Wisconsin Towns for a summer. She was amazed to see how God worked, & she learned much about depending on HIM.

Marlys became interested in missions early on & committed herself to go into missionary work if God so led. Her first missionary training was GMG (Girls Meeting God) where they learned about Baptist General Conference Missionaries. In her adult life she was active in many Circles taking jobs like president of the BBCW (Bethlehem Baptist Conference Women) & Circle chairperson. She enjoyed the missionary speakers & the special prayer times for missions. Circles eventually became “circles of prayer.” She thanked God for younger new leadership, knowing the same goals of Encouraging each other in Christian walk, Learning from Missionary women on furlough & praying for special missionary concerns mattered. In later years, she was active praying with her Barnabas groups. 20/20 was her longest running prayer group it started in the ‘80’s and is still active. Marlys led Bible Studies for many years and spent many nights reading her Bible & preparing lesson plans! She kept an alphabetized listing of her favorite scriptures by her bedside.

Her higher education included a B.A. (Bethel), a B.S. (U of M), English as a Second Language licensure (Hamline). Her first two years she taught English, Speech and Journalism in Mora, MN. In the summer of ‘58 she spent ten weeks discovering Europe with her college roommate, she came home from Europe to work as Head of the English Department at Roosevelt High School. She also spent a time volunteering at Bethel working with the Historical Society.

She married Merlyn D. Arenson on June 20, 1959. She resigned from Roosevelt when she was pregnant with their son, Karl, in 1965 because pregnant women could not teach. Their daughter Alice joined the family in ‘66. Marlys returned to teaching in ‘75. After Merlyn died in ‘87 she returned to Minneapolis schools for 10 years until she retired.

Since Marlys was a teacher, she had summers off, so the family headed to the cabin frequently & made many special memories in Crosslake, MN. In the early years, the Cabin transformed to a church on Sundays until the Log Church (her “summer church”) was built in 1983. Yah’s (Young at Heart) gatherings and Women’s Bible Studies were a special way to meet, pray and continue to grow in the Lord! She spent time volunteering at the Asst. Living – Hymn singing and visiting friends that were unable to get out and about. She started attending EPIC (Experienced People in Christ) last year & more friendships developed. Marlys left an impression on most everyone she met.

Marlys's life was centered around sharing the story of Jesus every day! She thanked God daily. He had prepared her for the many challenges she faced. During her prayer time she felt God’s peace, His presence & His leading! God is Good!

Services will be held at Crosslake Evangelical Free Church, 37218 Co Rd 66, Crosslake, MN 56442, Sun., Oct. 9^th at 1:30 pm visitation 30 minutes prior and at Bethlehem Baptist Church, 720 13th Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55415, Tues., Oct. 11^th at 11am with visitation one hour prior. Private interment - Fort Snelling National Cemetery.

In Lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Bethel University, 3900 Bethel Drive, St. Paul, MN 55112

Arrangements have been entrusted to the Brenny Family Funeral Chapel, Crosslake.