Marian Allene Hinds

Posted

TACOMA, Wash. – Educator and phonics advocate Marian Hinds passed away in Tacoma, Washington on Sept. 1, 2022. The oldest child of Allen and Helen Jones, Hinds grew up on farms outside of Lingle in simple homes with no electricity or plumbing. One of four “Jones Girls,” Hinds was class valedictorian of the Lingle School Class of 1947. She also played French Horn in the band and participated in cheer.

She graduated from secretarial school in Denver and worked there and then Washington, D.C. She returned to Wyoming to attend the University of Wyoming, where she met her husband of 63 years, Paul Hinds of Laramie, in a philosophy class. They wedded Dec. 27, 1958 in Lingle Community Presbyterian Church. 

While living in Rochester, New York, Hinds launched a private school for low-income children in a church basement, while also raising her two young children, Maria and Tom.

Moving with her family to Steilacoom in 1980, she partnered with the Brotherhood Church of God to launch a school in the Hilltop neighborhood of Tacoma. Simultaneously, she became executive director of the Reading Reform Foundation, a phonics resource and
advocacy organization.

Hinds finished her career providing free personal tutoring for low-income children while volunteering for the Steilacoom Community Church. She is survived by Paul, Maria and Tom and his wife Shannon Hickey, her sisters Kaye Ellis and Rosemary Huffman, and her grandchildren Tanika, Audriel and Sebastian.

Her sister, Barbara “Bobby” Hort, and her grandchild, Ella Hinds, preceded her in death.