Marilyn Theresa (Gee) Dunnigan of Hudson, an award-winning artist who traveled the world painting landscapes, fountains and street scenes – but whose favorite settings were along the beaches, parks and neighborhoods of Tarpon Springs, Ozona and Dunedin – died Aug. 21, 2023. She was 97.

Born in 1926 to Milton Cecil Gee and Marie (Fallon) Gee, Marilyn met the love of her life on a miniature golf course in New Jersey. She married James (Jim) Thomas Dunnigan in 1949 and began a life of adventure that included travel, sailing, painting, three children and a series of cross-country moves that took her to Texas to California and Florida.

She and Jim spent decades sailing the Gulf of Mexico and ultimately settled in Florida, where Marilyn became the matriarch of a large clan of children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

After Jim’s death in 2001, Marilyn moved to Hudson. When she wasn’t painting, traveling or enjoying her close circle of friends and weekly card game, Marilyn’s house was full of children. She challenged her grandchildren and great-grandchildren to endless rounds of “Skip Bo,” Rummikub, billiards and bocce and kept a well-stocked closet of games and toys.

She was a tireless seeker of fun and entertainment who had absolutely no sense of time or distance – perpetually convinced that the distance between here and there was never more than 20 minutes and that she could always squeeze one more thing into any itinerary.

She was the centerpiece of every Dunnigan family reunion and an aggressively competitive ping pong player – a talent she first honed on the table tennis team of Henry Snyder High School in Jersey City, where she graduated in 1943. In 1987, she earned an Associate of Arts degree from St. Petersburg Junior College, where she continued to study and paint over the next 30 years.

She also studied at the Dunedin Art Center and was a member of Studio 1212, the Creative Art Guild, the Tarpon Springs Art Association and the Pasco Arts Council.  She was a member of St. Theresa Catholic Church in Spring Hill and a Catholic Catechism instructor for many years.

She was preceded in death by her husband Jim, brothers Milton and Richard Gee, and a granddaughter Bailee Ann Dunnigan of Tarpon Springs.

She is survived by her three children, James T. Dunnigan (Denise) of Springfield, Louisiana; Patricia Dunnigan (David Kidwell) of Riverside, Illinois; and Michael J. Dunnigan (Robin) of Tarpon Springs; eight grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren.

Sylvan Abbey Memorial Park, Clearwater.