Marcella was born March 31, 1924, on the family farm on Dupanda Road in Otter Creek Township, Tama County, Iowa, to John E. Benda and Agnes E. Staricky. She attended a one room school adjacent to the family farm through the eighth grade. Marcy was valedictorian of the Toledo High School class of 1941 in Toledo, Iowa, and a 1946 graduate of St. Thomas Mercy Nursing School in Marshalltown, Iowa. Following high school graduation, Marcy was too young to enroll in nursing school, so she taught school in the one room school adjacent to the family farm and then spent time with her sister, Martha, in Hagerstown, MD, and working at Fairchild Aircraft supporting the WWII war effort. On November 23, 1946, she married Robert Dawson in Marshalltown. Marcy and Bob retired to Arizona in 1984, first to Tempe and then to Sun Lakes. After a few years following Bob’s death on July 23, 1994, she married Douglas Parker in September 1997 in Sun Lakes, AZ, with Doug passing away August 27, 2019.

Marcy was a registered nurse for many years practicing first at St. Thomas Mercy Hospital, then at Marshalltown Area Community Hospital in Marshalltown, and finally at Chandler Regional Medical Center, in Chandler, AZ. Following her retirement from nursing, she volunteered at Chandler Medical Center plus spending many afternoons and evenings fulfilling her passion for bridge and other card games. She was an active member of St. Steven’s Catholic Church in Sun Lakes. Marcy was a very talented seamstress, making or altering just about anything for friends and family in Iowa and Arizona.

Marcy is survived by her six children: Bill, of Castle Pines, CO, Kate Hutcheson, of Colorado Springs, CO, Christine, of Astoria, NY, Michael (Leslie Byrnes), of Toronto, Canada, Jim (Laura), of Phoenix, AZ, and Laurie, of Ames, IA; grandchildren: Ashlee (Chris) Denning, of Birdsboro, PA, Brian (Kim) Dawson, of Keller, TX, Jeff (Angie) Dawson, of Herriman, UT, Eric (Jaimie) Dawson, of Rochester Hills, MI, and Danielle Dawson, of Yucca Valley, CA; great grand children: Kyle (Denisa) Denning, of Winchester, VA, Jacob, Aidan, and Olivia Dawson, of Keller, TX, Kelsey (Quentin) Lanoue, of West Jordan, UT, Grace Dawson, of Herriman, UT, and Jaxson and Hayden Dawson, of Rochester Hills, MI; sister, Sister Ludmilla Benda, of Chicago, IL; and sister-in-law; Avonelle Dawson, of Sun Lakes, AZ.

She was preceded in death by her parents John and Agnes; husbands, Robert Dawson and Douglas Parker; daughter-in-law Virginia Dawson in 2017; sisters, Hilda Zmolek and Martha Strachota; and brothers, Cyril, John and Leo.