Marilyn Ruth (Earls) Killian

A Life Shaped by Music, Education, and Service

Marilyn Ruth (Earls) Killian, age 90, passed away on Thursday, August 6, 2026, at her Larksfield Place home in Wichita, Kansas, with her son, Steve, by her side.

Marilyn was born April 27, 1936, and grew up in Ironton, Missouri, with her parents, Oran Wayne Earls and Helen Coleman Earls, and her sister Carol.

Marilyn demonstrated an early affinity for music, one that would become the defining current of her life. She earned a B.S. in Music Education from the University of Missouri–Columbia and an M.S. in Music Education from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. Her education reflected a lifelong commitment to mastery, scholarship, and growth.

One of the family’s favorite stories came from Marilyn and Don’s courtship. On New Year’s Eve 1955, as they sat together in their car in the rain, Don presented Marilyn with a ring and asked, “Is one of your New Year’s wishes to marry me?” They married in Ironton in June 1958, soon made their home in Wichita, and built a nearly 62-year partnership marked by devotion, intellectual curiosity, faith, and mutual respect.

Affectionately known to her students as “Mrs. K,” Marilyn devoted her life to music, education, and the quiet, transformative power of helping young people find their voices. Through decades of teaching, conducting, and mentorship, she shaped not only exemplary musicians and teachers but also thoughtful, disciplined, and confident human beings. Her legacy lives on in concert halls, classrooms, and churches—and in generations of students who carry her influence forward.

Marilyn taught for 24 years in Wichita Public Schools, retiring in 1991. Her work was marked by rigor, musical excellence, and a deep belief in the potential of young singers. After retiring from Wichita Public Schools, Marilyn’s influence only expanded. She was invited to teach at Friends University, where she served as an adjunct professor of music education from 1991 to 2004; she also taught at Wichita State University and Bethel College. She directed children’s choirs for the Wichita Symphony Orchestra and performed as an orchestra flutist. She also conducted honor and state choirs throughout the region.

In 1992, Marilyn and Barbara Bowers founded the Wichita Community Children’s Choir (WCCC), one of Marilyn’s most enduring contributions. As founding director, Marilyn built a program of remarkable artistic quality and national stature. Under her leadership, WCCC performed at regional and national music conferences, at the 2001 dedication of the Kansas Governor’s Mansion, with the Wichita Symphony Orchestra, and with Samuel Ramey at Century II.

Marilyn’s students were regularly selected for national and regional honor choirs of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) in cities across the country. She believed deeply in disciplined preparation, expressive singing, and the responsibility of young musicians to honor both the music and their audience.

Her influence also extended to music education across Kansas. As project chair for the Kansas Music Curriculum Framework, Marilyn helped lead the development of sequential pre-K–12 outcomes designed to guide music instruction throughout the state.

Marilyn served the profession through state and national offices in the Kansas Music Educators Association, ACDA, and Sigma Alpha Iota. Her honors included the Citation for Outstanding Music Service from the Kansas Federation of Music Clubs and induction into the Kansas Music Educators Association Hall of Fame in 1995. She was the first woman to receive the Harry Robert Wilson Award for distinguished work in choral music. Later honors included a 2005 Kansas Governor’s Arts Award as an arts educator and the Wichita Arts Council’s Burton Pell Achievement in Music Award in 2012.

Despite these accolades, Marilyn remained characteristically humble. She measured success not in awards but in rehearsal rooms, careful vowel shaping, disciplined breath, and the moment when young singers realized they were capable of something larger than they believed.

At her core, Marilyn believed that music matters because people matter. She believed that discipline is an act of care, excellence is a form of respect, and children rise to the level of what is asked of them when they are truly seen.

Away from classrooms and rehearsals, Marilyn brought energy, style, and determination to everyday life. Those who knew her understood that once Marilyn set her mind on something, it was going to happen. She rarely missed an opportunity to dress to the nines. She took exercise seriously, even making fitness an ongoing friendly competition with Don. She treasured family dinners, pizza Sundays, and Kansas City Chiefs games. She had a particular fondness for ice cream and enjoyed making banana splits for family and friends, drawing on a skill dating back to her days working at Dairy Queen.

Marilyn’s determination was profoundly tested in 2010, when she spent 74 days at Wesley Hospital, including more than a month in intensive care, after developing serious infections following surgery. After she and Don moved to Larksfield Place later that year, she described herself as a “98-pound weakling” who walked with a cane. Following her doctors’ advice to rebuild through “baby steps,” she committed herself to the Larksfield Fitness Club and gradually regained her strength and then some. Marilyn credited its staff with helping bring her “through the valley and back”—a recovery she approached with the same discipline, patience, and resolve she brought to music.

That same determination remained unmistakably Marilyn throughout her life. In her final chapter, she was ultimately able to remain in her own home at Larksfield, in familiar surroundings and among people who loved her, with comfort and dignity at the center of her care. True to form, she did things her own way to the very end, meeting life’s final passage with the strength, grace, and fierce resolve that had always defined her.

Her son, Steve, offers this tribute:

“With profound gratitude and love, I honor my mother for being an extraordinary mom in more ways than I could ever count. She devoted her life to creating music and to helping young people—including me—find their voices, grow in confidence, and discover what they were capable of becoming. She understood something about life that she also knew about music: harmony does not require everyone to sing the same part. Her life’s work is complete, but the music she gave to the world will never fall silent. It continues in all of us. Mom, I couldn’t be more proud of you.”

Marilyn was preceded in death by her husband, Don, in March 2020, and by her parents, Oran Wayne Earls and Helen Coleman Earls.

She is survived by her son, Steve Killian, and his partner, Steve McKnight; her sister, Carol Leach; her nieces, Carla Ewing and Christi Childers; and extended family. She is also remembered by generations of colleagues, students, and friends, many of whom consider her a formative presence in their lives.

A private family graveside service will be held at Arcadia Valley Memorial Park in Missouri, where Marilyn will be laid to rest beside her beloved husband and her parents.

The Wichita Community Children’s Choir (WCCC) will honor Marilyn during its December 2026 holiday concert, offering friends, former students, colleagues, and the broader community a meaningful opportunity to remember her through music and experience the choir she helped found.

In lieu of flowers, those wishing to honor Marilyn’s memory are invited to make a donation to WCCC in recognition of her lifelong love of music and the many lives she touched. Concert details and a link for memorial donations will be available at www.wcccks.com.

An equally meaningful tribute is simply to share a favorite story about Marilyn with someone you love, or to encourage a young person to discover and experience the joy of music.

Services in care of Downing & Lahey East Mortuary.