Marilyn Maxwell’s fascination with history led her to memorialize Lovers Lane and its link to poet Eugene Field.

The 84-year-old Ms. Maxwell died Saturday after spending more than 40 years as a teacher in the St. Joseph School District and a history fan. Family fondly recalled her love for St. Joseph’s past, along with her teaching career and time spent with family.

She and her sister, Barbara, shared a house on Lovers Lane Terrace since moving to St. Joseph in 1942.

“We built the house while our folks were still living,” Barbara said.

Her sister graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1947 and then commenced a 42-year teaching tenure with the school district, spending 21 years each with Lafayette High School and Central High School.

“She said she didn’t have 21 to teach at Benton, so she retired,” Barbara said.

Ms. Maxwell’s field was primarily Spanish, but she also taught some English and math — and included a stint of eighth-grade math at Lafayette, where she kept close ties.

She never played favorites in the classroom. “She just enjoyed working with the students,” Barbara said.

Her knowledge of language garnered attention from those who would know best, such as on the tour she and Barbara took in Mexico in 1960.

“The cab driver told her she spoke beautiful Spanish,” Barbara said.

For a time, she served as a translator for the American Angus Association and brushed up on her Spanish even during her time as a teacher.

It was her involvement with the fledgling Lovers Lane Neighborhood Association that allowed her the opportunity to preserve St. Joseph history. Fellow member Frieda Ross also expressed an interest in recognizing Mr. Field, his poem, “Lover’s Lane St. Jo,” and the neighborhood’s connection. The poem commemorates the road the poet made famous in 1889 as he wrote about a courtship he had in St. Joseph in the 1870s.

The association, for whom Ms. Maxwell served as the first president, raised funds to create a marker — dedicated in 1993 and located just west of the Lovers Lane overpass on Northwest Parkway — on the south side of the street.

Denise Warren, her niece, remembers Independence Day gatherings at the home in which the family enjoyed fireworks and board games. She learned sewing from her aunt.

“I used to make a lot of Christmas gifts after that,” Mrs. Warren said.

Her nephew, Kevin Davidson, counted on both aunts to help him pay for his last quarter of studies at the University of California.

“If not for them, I wouldn’t have graduated,” he said.

Besides teaching and family, Ms. Maxwell also helped keep books for a family farm in rural Clark County, Mo. The farm belongs to the Missouri Century Farm program, consisting of state properties that have been owned by the same family for at least 100 years.

She also was a member of the St. Joseph Landmark Commission, Senior Center Foundation Board and Ashland United Methodist Church.

Ray Scherer can be reached

at rscherer@npgco.com.