REMEMBERING MARILYN LOVELL

Before portraying Marilyn Lillie Lovell in the 1995 movie Apollo 13, Kathleen Quinlan visited the wife of the mission’s commander, Jim Lovell, twice in Texas.

Quinlan sought to discover the essence of the strong, loving matriarch and then capture it vividly for moviegoers. But their relationship did not end there.

“Kathleen and my mother kept in communication for years after the movie was made,” says Jeff Lovell, one of the couple’s four children, with Barbara Harrison, James Lovell III, and Susan Lovell. “Mom was overjoyed with Kathleen’s portrayal.”

A poignant scene unfolded inside a room at Lake Forest Place on August 27. Surrounded by her husband of 71 years and their quartet of children, Marilyn Lovell died peacefully from natural causes at age 93.

“We were all there, and she knew it,” Susan Lovell says. “It was unique, unplanned. I remember thinking, ‘How did this happen, all of us getting to spend her final moments with her?’ It was perfect.

“I miss her,” she adds. “I miss talking with her. We were close. A very strong, determined woman, Mom put everybody ahead of her and lived a good, long life.”

Born Marilyn Lillie Gerlach as the youngest of five children in Milwaukee, she first met her future husband when she was 14 and Jim was 16. They attended Juneau High School in Milwaukee. According to astronomy.com, Marilyn transferred from Wisconsin State Teachers College in Milwaukee to George Washington University in Washington D.C., in order to be closer to Jim, who was a United States Naval Academy midshipman in Annapolis.

They got married in 1952.

Marilyn Lovell served as a member of the “Next Nine,” the second group of the Astronaut Wives Club.

“The club supported and promoted NASA, and it supported the wives of NASA astronauts as well,” says Jeff Lovell, who graduated from Lake Forest High School in 1984— three years after the Lovell family moved to the suburban city—and lives in Houston. “Mom was there for the wives who had lost their husbands working in a dangerous occupation.”

Apollo 13, NASA’s third scheduled mission to land on the Moon, averted disaster thanks to the skill and poise of Jim Lovell and his crew. An oxygen tank in the service module failed during the second day of the 1970 journey, forcing the crew to loop around the Moon. It returned safely to Earth.

“I never knew my dad was in trouble,” says Jeff Lovell, who was four years old when the nation followed the gripping plight on television. “Mom saw to that. We all lived normal lives because of her and her ability to juggle a lot of balls at the same time without dropping any of them.”

In 1968, while on the Apollo 8 mission to the Moon, Jim Lovell eyed a pyramid-shaped lunar mountain and named it after Marilyn. Mount Marilyn became officially recognized by the International Astronomical Union in 2017.

Carole Schall, of Lake Forest, knew Marilyn Lovell for more than seven years, mostly as a Talbots client specialist. A former Saks Fifth Avenue director of fashion, Schall “styled Marilyn and picked out wardrobes (typically elegant and classic) for her.” An unforgettable moment for Schall was seeing Jim, 95, and Marilyn Lovell interacting one day.

“What a thrill that was for me, watching two celebrities together in my hometown,” Schall says. “Marilyn trusted me. We had a great connection.

“I loved her dearly.”

Marilyn Lovell loved chocolate almost as much as she loved her family and friends.

“If you gave her chocolate, especially a Cadbury Easter egg, she’d be your friend for life,” Susan Lovell says. “I learned from Mom that the 12-step program for chocoholics is to never be more than 12 steps away from chocolate.”

Other survivors include 11 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

A service was held last month.