THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION IS COURTESY OF SUNSET FUNERAL HOME
Marilyn Lea Satterwhite (Weinard), a recognized and honored founder of Danville Area Community College, has passed away. She died of Pancreatic cancer on January 5, 2026 at age 83.
Visitation will take place on Friday January 9, 2026, 5:00-7:00 pm and Saturday January 10, from 9:00-10:00 a.m. with funeral services Saturday January 10 at 10:00 a.m. at Sunset Funeral Home and Cremation Center, 3940 N. Vermilion St., Danville, IL 61834. Burial will take place in Rossville Cemetery, Rossville, Illinois.
Born October 8, 1942, and raised on a farm east of Rossville, IL, she was the eldest child of Raymond C. and Lucile E. (Baker) Weinard, who predeceased her. She has two younger brothers, Garold R. Weinard (wife Brenda) of Hoopeston, IL, and Bruce A. Weinard (wife Sylvia) of Mobile, AL. She attended and graduated from Rossville Public Schools in 1960, with a class of 37 students, and was an active 4-H member for 21 years.
Marilyn attended and graduated from Eastern Illinois University in 1964 with a B.S. in Business Education. That fall, she began her teaching career as a business teacher at Danville High School. Also, that fall of 1964, she met Mary Miller, the founding President of Danville Junior College, who persuaded her to teach veterans returning from WWII in beginning and advanced shorthand night classes at DHS for the Danville Junior College.
Danville Junior College outgrew its space at DHS, and Miss Miller began searching for another location. At that time, a group of buildings at the Veterans Hospital in Danville became surplus, and Miss Miller arranged for them to be transferred to DJC. In 1965, Miss Miller persuaded Marilyn (then 22 years old and the youngest of the hand-picked faculty group) to join her full-time at the new East Main Street Campus in Danville and become chairwoman of the Business Division, which was housed in Building 7.
Marilyn served as department chairwoman for the next 6 years. Some of her early responsibilities included developing the first vocational/technical business programs for Office Careers and Vocational Business Accounting, as well as forming and consulting with an advisory committee of business professionals to revise and approve the curricula. At the time, they had the latest equipment, including electric typewriters and adding machines. Marilyn hired 7 others to teach in the department. They taught classes during the day and cleaned and painted the classrooms, which were in wards of the old V.A. hospital, at night and on weekends.
As DJC expanded, the Business department became part of the Tech Ed Division. The head of this division was Bob Griggs. Bob’s wife, Mary, worked at Tee-Pak, a chemical company in Danville. George “Bill” Satterwhite was a chemical engineer at Tee-Pak, and he was single. Bob’s wife, Mary, and another woman at Tee-Pak conspired to fix Bill up with Marilyn, who was also single. Bill finally called Marilyn, and they had a lengthy conversation, arranging a date. Bill and Marilyn continued dating and were married on June 29, 1968. They honeymooned in Hawaii and returned there for their 25th Anniversary. As of June 2025, they had been married for 57 years.
They have two children, Marcy L. Satterwhite (Amy Hovious) of Urbana, IL, and David D. Satterwhite (Melita) of Pula, Croatia. They have one grandchild, James W. Hovious, age 10 (son of Amy and Marcy). Marilyn especially loved reading books with her grandson over the years and was so happy to have him read a book to her on one of her last good days.
Marilyn continued her education, earning her master’s degree in education from the University of Illinois, as well as 68 additional hours of postgraduate work over the years at various Universities across the country. Including the University of Hawaii.
In 1980, DACC launched the Business and Economic Institute, and Marilyn helped plan, develop, and teach over 12 different business and office workshops, as well as 20 microcomputer workshops. Marilyn helped the college move toward the age of interactive technology and was DACC’s first faculty member to teach a workshop using distance learning.
For students, she established the first ‘Business Club’ early on, and she organized and planned the first Career Day for the business division, where each student spent the day job shadowing a person in a local business. Later, she organized the first DACC Pep Band, which performed at the Jaguar basketball games. Marilyn served as a volunteer faculty sponsor from 1989 to 1995.
Marilyn was active in numerous professional organizations, serving in various officer and board positions, and attending numerous professional conferences over the years, including the Illinois Business Education Association, the North Central Business Education Association, the National Business Education Association, and the International Business Education Association.
Through the International Business Education Association, she met fellow business teachers from all over the world. On one International Conference trip, her family befriended a family from Germany. The father was a business educator and brought his wife and two daughters. The oldest daughter, Tina, wanted to become an English teacher, so she came to the U.S. as an exchange student and lived with Marilyn’s family for a year. Tina became a second daughter to Bill and Marilyn, and the families remain close.
Marilyn has co-authored 12 textbooks since 1985, including:
- Modern Business Correspondence
- The Irwin Office Reference Manual
- The Irwin Law Office Reference Manual
- Business Communication at Work
- Professional Business Writing
- College English and Business Communication
Marilyn was a featured speaker for McGraw-Hill at numerous conferences and events across the country, presenting workshops on using word processing software and teaching business communications over the years.
Marilyn has won numerous awards, including:
- The 1966 local, district, and state Young Careerist Award from the Business and Professional Women’s Club.
- The 1992 National Business Education Association Post Secondary Teacher of the Year Award.
- The 1994 Danville Area Community College Faculty of the Year.
- The 1995 Association of Community College Trustees Central Region Faculty Member of the Year.
- The 1997 Lumpkin School of Business Distinguished Alumna at Eastern Illinois University.
- In 2013, she was honored as a Danville Area Community College Founder.After retiring in 2002 from a 38-year teaching career, Marilyn continued to teach part-time at Danville Area Community College for several more years. In addition to teaching, she worked with several other DACC retirees to develop an archive for DACC and a video tribute to Mary Miller, founder of DJC. Marilyn co-founded the DACC chapter of the State University Annuitants Association (SUAA) and served as the President and newsletter editor, and then the Executive Director of the chapter, until her cancer diagnosis in September 2025.
Marilyn was very proud to be a 4th-generation teacher, and that her daughter, Marcy, is a 5th-generation teacher. In her DACC founders’ day speech in 2013, she said,
“I’ve known since grade school that I wanted to be a teacher, and it has truly been a rewarding career. The classroom is where the action is! I cherish the “Aha” moments when a student gets it.”
Marilyn and Bill were active supporters of several local charities in Danville. In Lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to:
- The Vermilion County Museum, mail a check to 116 N. Gilbert Street, Danville, IL 61832, or call 217-442-2922 to donate with a credit card.
- The Danville Area Community College Foundation, donate online at dacc.edu/foundation.
- Or another local Danville, IL charity of your choice.
Please join Marilyn’s family in sharing memories, photos, and videos of her life through her tribute wall at www.sunsetfuneralhome.com
