Biography

Born in 1932 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Mari Marks (born Marilyn Danna Marks) was the oldest of three children. Her father died in a fire when she was six, and her grief-stricken mother relocated them to Princeton, Illinois. Her mother soon agreed to marry a solicitous cousin to help make ends meet, but it was not a happy marriage. Marks spent her childhood helping to care for her younger brother and sister, striving to meet her mother’s high standards of behavior and academics. She remembers in a memoir that she was a sad and lonely child who found solace and soothing in the wild spaces surrounding her country home. She states:

“As a child I was fascinated by maps and globes. I envisioned broad river valleys, foothills and mountain reaches. Growing up in the Midwest, the land and the sky were powerful presences. As a solitary young person I explored every hill and stream bed on the rugged land my family owned.”

After excelling in academics, music and art in high school, Marks entered the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne on scholarships.   read more here