Celia Mennen Marks
Cookbook writer, columnist passes
Celia Mennen Marks, whose cooking columns found a following even among
non-cooks because of her personal anecdotes and insights into human
nature, died Sept. 7, 2005, at her home in Cherokee Village. She was
98.
She was born Dec. 14, 1906, in Chatanooga, Tenn., to Ephriam and Naomi
Atlas Mennen. She married Louis B. Marks in 1935 in Chattanooga. They
had been married 50 years when he died in 1985.
Marks wrote a cooking column, “Let’s Cook,” for the Cherokee Villager
(predecessor to the Villager Journal) in the mid-1990s, and in recent
years she co-wrote another cooking column, “Come Into Our Kitchen,”
for the Villager with writer Barbara Massie of Cherokee Village. He
columns also appeared in Aging Arkansas until the time of her death.
Before moving to Cherokee Village, Marks was food editor of the Chattanooga
Times in Tennessee for eight years. A collection of her cooking columns
was compiled into an aptly titled cookbook, Come Into My Kitchen, which
was so popular it went into 13 printings. She also wrote the Southern
Living Party Cookbook, and at the time of her death Marks was working
on a third cookbook with co-writer Barbara Massie.
Marks was an art collector and voracious reader who never lost her zest
for life, her innate curiosity and her eagerness for learning.
She founded The Plum Nelly Shop, a gallery in Chattanooga specializing
in original artwork and handmade crafts. For her shop patrons, she wrote
a monthly newsletter, The Crafty Cook, which continued for 16 years.
After attending Peabody College in Nashville, Marks’ early careers
included work with the Tennessee Valley Authority and free-lance writing
for advertising and radio.
In 1994 Marks relocated to Arkansas to be near her daughter, Sidney
Nisbet, at which time she resumed her writing with columns in the Villager
and Aging Arkansas.
She was a charter member of the Spring River Branch of the National
League of American Pen Women, a member of Cherokee Village Writers and
Friends of the (Sharp County) Library.
Marks was preceded in death by her husband, Louis, and one daughter,
Judith Ann.
She leaves behind a daughter, Sidney, and her husband, Robb, Nisbet
of Cherokee Village; and a host of friends in Arkansas and Tennessee.
The funeral was held Sept. 9, with burial in Mizpah Cemetery in Chattanooga.
Local arrangements were by Heath Funeral Home Oak Hill Chapel.
Memorials may be made to Global Hope, P.O. Box 3087, Waco, TX 76707
for the Celia Marks First Responders Fund.
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