Marlou (Marguerite Louise) Belyea died Sunday, June 27, 2021. She was born in the California desert, the daughter of Allan Rau and Louise LaRue, pioneer homesteaders on the Coachella Valley with a date ranch and farm, on September 11, 1926. They lived at least a mile from her nearest neighbors. Her brother, Allan, and her sister, Caroline, were her playmates with their ponies. They played horse tag between the cactus and mesquite. Pioneering neighbors, Dickie and Eddie Elliot set up a tent school calling it Desert Sun. Desert Sun would move from the desert floor to the cool mountains above. Her parents got a cabin nearby in Idyllwild and would truck the ponies up. Poor farmers paid the tuition in vegetables and chores, and Marlou contributed by tutoring the younger students.
Marlou met her husband, Robert Belyea, in Idyllwild while he was on leave from CalTech’s Navy program. She would go to public high school in the Coachella Valley, but the Elliots got her a full scholarship at a private school, Girls Collegiate, in Pomona. She then went to college there at Scripps College. Her protective mother moved the family to a rental home in Pomona. Her younger brother would go on to Stanford and her sister followed him there. Right after her graduation, she and Bob Belyea married. They moved east so he could work as electrical engineer in the family business, Belyea Electric Company where he rose to become its president for 60 years. For 45 of those years they lived on an old Dutch farm in Pompton Plains, N.J. where she and her youngest daughter, Carolyn Belyea, raised and trained Arabian horses. She would bring two of those horses with her when they moved to Easton, PA. where Bob opened up new operations for the Belyea company.
Bob and Marlou were excellent tennis players, swimmers and horseback riders. They loved swing dancing and could put on a show well into their 80s. Book clubs and bridge clubs filled out their social life. Bob died in 2011. Marlou vigorously volunteered in Pompton Plains and Easton. In both towns she was president and active member of the League of Women Voters, the American Association of University Women. In Easton, she volunteered at the Northampton County Historical Society as docent and gave papers at the Fortnightly Club. She worked on various causes such as senior citizens’ housing and women’s rights, supporting the first woman to run for Governor of N.J. and becoming her aide. Marlou was the first woman to be elected to the Pompton Plains town council and the first female mayor. In Easton, she nominated herself to the Northampton Democratic committee and won. After that she got hundreds of votes to stay on the Committee and continued her work for women candidates and rights. She worked to get a Public Health Department for the County.
Marlou is survived by two of her children, Carolyn Zecherle, of Novato, CA and Marlou Belyea Taylor of Berkeley, CA. A third daughter, Wendy Belyea Coombs, died of ALS in 2010. Wendy’s daughter, Toke Nicole, survives with three children, Ravenne Ongpauco, and Vienna and Sophie Hockabout and stepson, Nick Ongpauco. Wendy also had two stepchildren, Alexis and Adrian Coombs, and Adrian has a daughter, Aliyah. All survive. Her daughter Marlou Taylor had two children, Danielle and James Taylor. Her daughter Carolyn has one daughter, Alicia Zecherle.
A memorial service will be held Saturday, July 10 at 2 pm at the Belyea home, 1253 Firethorne Dr., Easton with a time to greet the family from 1 to 2 pm. Offer online condolences at www. AshtonFuneralHome.com. Please, no flowers, but donations in her memory to the AAUW Easton Branch, P.O. Box 1464, Easton, PA would be welcome.
