Marilyn Louise Kalabsa
OBITUARY
Marilyn Louise Kalabsa, a Ramona resident since 1970, passed away on June 25th, 2026. Marilyn was born on June 12, 1935, in San Diego, California. Her parents, Edwin and Louise Pugh moved to San Diego from Texas in 1934 with her brother, Bill.
She grew up in Point Loma and graduated from Point Loma High school in 1953. While attending college at both Whittier college and San Diego State she majored in Psychology, with Speech and Drama as minors. She also worked as a court reporter and in the admissions office at University of California at La Jolla.
In the 1960’s, she owned a grocery store in San Diego, Menlo Farms, with her then husband Thomas Hankins. She moved to Ramona in 1970 with her husband, Emil Kalabsa, and they owned and ran several businesses in Ramona including a wrought iron factory called Kal Kraft and another, Husky Haulers. Later, they built the North County Sports Center that had a restaurant, indoor soccer, and several other activities.
Marilyn loved to play the piano and was quite skilled. As a child she took lessons and enjoyed playing throughout her life, with classical and jazz her favorite genres. She also enjoyed playing bridge and acquired many masters points while playing tournaments nationwide.
During retirement, she traveled to many countries. While participating in Earth Watch tours, she tracked silverback mountain gorillas, elephants, rhinos, and many other endangered animals. She loved observing animals in their natural habitats and went on multiple trips to Africa, India, China and other countries to follow various species of animals. She traveled well into her 80’s.
Marilyn loved her family more than anything and enjoyed spending time with them as much as possible. She is survived by 4 daughters, 10 grandchildren, and 7 great grandchildren. Daughters: Kathleen Swift, Nancy Soule, Rosalie Darrough, and Patty Kalabsa. Grandchildren: Cliff Stangler, Velvet Swift, Daniel Swift, Michelle Steinberg, Viridian Soule, James Smith, Nicole Al Rais, Hana Darrough, Alex Darrough, and Sara Darrough. Great Grandchildren: Koji, Momoko, Desmond, Fiona, Vivian, Justine, Tommy, and Shadow.
Please contact the family for information on the memorial service.