CHESSON, Marilyn "Lynn" Ryder

Published by The Daily Courier on May 17, 2026 - Prescott, Arizona - Marilyn (Lynn) Ryder Hershey Chesson died May 7, 2026 at Los Fuentes Resort Village in Prescott, Arizona. She was born Sept. 8, 1929 in Long Beach, California, to Maude and Carl G. Hershey, who proceeded her in death. Her family lived for a long time in Phoenix, Arizona and Torreon, Mexico, before settling in Alton, Illinois when she was 10 years old. She attended Alton public schools, and later graduated with honors in journalism from the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana. She was involved in many campus activities, and was a member of Delta Delta Delta sorority. After graduation Lynn worked at Wohl Shoe Company in St. Louis, Missouri, as an advertising copy-writer before moving back to Champaign-Urbana to pursue a master’s degree. In 1953 she spent two months traveling in Europe on her own, devoting three weeks of that time to an Ecumenical Work Camp near Graz in Austria. She remained close friends with several work campers for many years. On New Year’s Eve in 1953 she met Eugene (Gene) Chesson, a graduate student working on his doctorate in civil engineering at the University of Illinois. Lynn and Gene were married on Aug. 21, 1954, and had a belated three month honeymoon in Europe, traveling more than 10,000 miles while camping. Lynn worked for a time with an advertising agency in Champaign-Urbana where she became involved with early CBS television, producing and airing commercials and a weekly half-hour program live, and without a teleprompter. Later she was employed by a publishing company as editor of four-color illustrations for a new children’s encyclopedia. After earning his doctorate, Gene became a faculty member at the University of Illinois. While there, the Chessons entertained numerous graduate students from around the world, particularly at Thanksgiving. They maintained some of these relationships for many years. After 13 years in Champaign-Urbana, Lynn, Gene and their two young sons moved to Newark, Delaware, where Gene became a full professor and chairman of the civil engineering department at the University of Delaware. In addition to her many responsibilities as a faculty wife, Lynn found time to volunteer at the Wilmington, Delaware VA Hospital, interviewing patients and writing short stories about them for the hospital newspaper. Later, when their two sons were older, Lynn accepted the position of senior editor in the university’s communications department. What began as a part-time job became a full-blown 14-year career during which she was active in writing, editing, publication production, radio and television on behalf of the Delaware Cooperative Extension Service. Some of her TV production and on-camera work was done on NBC-TV in Philadelphia. After 20 years in Delaware, in 1986 Lynn and her husband retired early and moved to Prescott, Arizona, where they built their dream home, spending a year doing all the interior trim and painting themselves. Later they enjoyed furnishing their home with Native American art, especially Navajo rugs. In Prescott, Lynn discovered Prescott Art Docents, an organization that took up much of her time for the next 20 years. After a year of training in art history, she began researching and preparing numerous slide lectures on art for both children and adults, taking art enrichment programs into Prescott’s elementary school classrooms for 13 years. In addition, she helped prepare gifted high school seniors for the art section of the National Academic Decathlon. In 1998 she was selected Art Docent of the Year. During their married life, Lynn and Gene enjoyed traveling the world, with many trips to Europe and South America, as well as Turkey, India, Africa, Iceland and New Zealand. In 2011 they sold their Prescott home and moved, along with two cats, into a comfortable apartment in the Las Fuentes retirement community. Throughout their married life they were fond of cats and, in all, had six, the longest living 15 years. In addition to her parents, Lynn was preceded in death by an infant son, Bryan, and her husband Gene. Surviving are sons Christopher and David, grandchildren Jason, Ella and Ruby Chesson, and granddaughter Layla. Lynn would be pleased with donations in her name to the Yavapai Humane Society, 1625 Sundog Ranch Rd., Prescott, AZ 86301. Her sons would also like to express their sincere gratitude to the many caring staff members at Las Fuentes Resort Village who became extended family over the course of more than 15 years. Their kindness, compassion and friendship meant more than words can express to both Lynn and Gene, and later to Lynn during her final years. Information provided by the family.