October 16, 1928 - February 17, 2012
Marvin Herman Tennefoss, 83, died on Thursday, February 17, 2012, in Asheville, North Carolina.
Born in Aberdeen, Washington, on October 16, 1928, to Marie Gjerde Nilsdotter Tennefoss and John Jonson Tennefoss, he was raised in Melbourne, Wash., and graduated from Montesano High School in 1946. Marvin was valedictorian for his graduating high school class and selected as “Outstanding Student Graduate” by the V.F.W. in Montesano.
Marvin served in the U.S. Army, based in Atterbury, Ind., was deployed to an Army hospital in Livorno, Italy, and was discharged at Fort Ord, Calif. He then attended Grays Harbor Junior College for two years before enrolling at Stanford University, where he was a proud member of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity and graduated in 1953, with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in History. Famed for his athletic prowess, Marv was inducted into the Hall of Fame at both Montesano High School and Grays Harbor College. He played football on Army teams, at Grays Harbor Junior College and at Stanford University, where he was a member of the Stanford football team that played in the Rose Bowl in 1952. A Stanford letterman in 1950, 1951 and 1952, he was a 1954 draft choice of the Green Bay Packers, though he chose not to play professionally.
After college, Marvin worked in retail sales, taught retail marketing at the community college level, and sold real estate, based out of the San Francisco Bay area and Aberdeen, Wash. After retirement, he moved to Santa Cruz, Calif., and then to Biltmore Lake, N.C.
Marvin married Louise Lazarus in 1955; they divorced in 1962. In 1966, Marvin married his beloved wife of 31 years, Sally A. Tennefoss, who preceded him in death in 1997. He is survived by his brother, John Norman Tennefoss (Montesano); his children, Lynn Tennefoss (Missoula, Mont.), Michael Tennefoss (Portola Valley, Calif.), Nan Chrostek (Omaha, Neb.) and Joani deVries (Lafayette, Calif.); his stepson, Alan Baker (Meridian, Idaho); eight grandchildren, and his third wife, Carolyn Gillio Tennefoss, whom he married in 2002.
Memorial donations may be made to the Stanford University Memorial Fund.
