“You need to be positive at all times,” advised Marilyn Dewarder. “There are going to be people for you and people against you. You have to be strong because not everybody is going to be chanting for you. If something fails for you, dust yourself off and get up and keep trying. You have to be determined and stay focused on your goal.”
Marilyn Dewarder knows exactly how it feels to work hard and push herself to be the best she can. She has always been a competitive athlete from a young age and was encouraged to reach her goals by the people in the village she grew up in.
“I’m originally from a country called Guyana, which is in South America. It’s bordered between Suriname, Venezuela, and Brazil. We’re the only English speaking country in South America,” explained Marilyn. “I started to run at the age of eight in elementary school. I was one of the youngest athletes running. They didn’t have an under 10 at the time, so I used to run with the older girls. I beat those girls, so everybody thought that there was something there. The entire village that I grew up in was behind me.”
Her running allowed her to attain a scholarship to a private school as she got older, and she started participating in multiple competitions.
“Through elementary, I won a lot of accolades and stuff like that,” remembered Marilyn. “Then, I got a scholarship at the age of 13 to go to a private high school. I spent four years there, and it was a track scholarship. I took part in a lot of junior games. The first games I took part in out of the country were in Suriname. I returned home with three medals: the 100 meters, 200 meters, and 400 meters I won. I also got a trophy for outstanding athlete. That was my first time competing out of my country. Since then, I started to compete in different junior games in Barbados, Jamaica, Bahamas, and Grenada. Those are different types of games, and I was pretty successful in some of them.”
She knew she wanted to be able to further her education, so she moved to a location to compete that would allow her to get a scholarship to attend a university.
“Early in my 20s, I moved to Trinidad, which is a country in the Caribbean. I joined the track club there. In my country, there is one university, and not everyone can go to that university. That’s the reason I had to try and get a scholarship to come up here,” declared Marilyn. “Four years after that, I got a track scholarship to attend Jackson State University.”
She was very successful in her competitions with Jackson State.
“My first year at Jackson State was in ’87. I won the 400 meters, and I got an award the first year for being the best 400 meters runner in SWAC. I got the Freshman Award and the Coach’s Award for my first year at Jackson State,” recalled Marilyn. “Until I graduated, I was running SWAC and winning 400s and running with the girls and winning relays. At Jackson State, the coach used to have me running the 100 meters, 200 meters, 400 meters, and I’m not an 800 meters runner, but he made me run the 800 meters relay which we won. He made me run cross country too. Basically, I was an all-around athlete.”
She had a goal to reach the Olympics one day, and her determination and hard work paid off.
“In 1988, we had the SWAC Athletic Conference meet. I won the 400 meters, and I made the time for the Olympics,” Marilyn reminisced. “I was surprised. I wasn’t surprised that I was good enough to do it, but I was hurting. I ran while I was hurting. I was in pain and crying and all that, so I was really surprised when I finished that the lights were flashing saying that I had the time for the Olympics. I wasn’t a citizen then in ’88—I’m a citizen now—so I had to run for my country. I took part in the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, Korea. I didn’t win a medal, but I felt good participating in the Olympics. I went to the first round and came in fourth, and that was it. It was a good experience being there.”
She may not have won a medal at the Olympics, but over the years, she had already been obtaining multiple medals from countries all over the world with her running skills.
“Besides going to the Olympics and before the Olympics, I went to Korea to run in the World Student Games where I won the 100, 200, and 400 meters,” informed Marilyn. “The year before, I went to Thailand where I won the same three races and a four-by-one relay. The year before that, I was in the United Kingdom where I ran the same three races. Then in France, I ran the 100, 200, and 800 meters and won gold medals in all of those. I enjoyed running. One of the major reasons was I got to see a lot of countries.”
She didn’t completely stop running once she graduated from college with her degree in sociology.
“I moved to Seattle, Washington, after I graduated,” expressed Marilyn. “In Seattle, I used to run the Master’s Games, and I enjoyed doing that. We would go to Portland and different places, and I would only run the 100 meters and four-by-one then. It took a long time for me to actually give up running.”
Between her work in Seattle and the work she does now that she’s made her home in Quitman, she has successfully enjoyed doing jobs related to two of her biggest career interests when she was a child.
“When I was in high school, I wanted to be either a probation officer or a psychiatrist because my mom had these two friends who I looked up to and admired so much,” proclaimed Marilyn. “That never manifested, but when I was in Seattle I worked as a contract staff with the Department of Corrections for 22 years. I got a taste of corrections there, and then I worked a little bit of mental health in Seattle and came here, so I got the best of both worlds without being a psychologist.”
Although she worked more with corrections in Seattle, she is able to assist others with their mental health since she moved to Quitman.
“I’m a case worker at WEEMS Mental Health,” stated Marilyn. “This year will be seven years now that I’ve been there with them. I really enjoy it. It’s a lot of driving because I go to the client homes and talk with them and make sure they take their meds and things like that. I work with both kids and adults, and I enjoy it.”
When she isn’t working, she is usually enjoying herself and maybe taking a small trip.
“I love music—any kind of music. I love to dance because that’s our culture and in our blood,” said Marilyn. “I love to travel. Since I stopped running, I haven’t traveled as much as I used to, but I love to travel. People ask me why I came to Quitman since there’s nothing going on, but my thing is that I find places to go. I go out of town to New Orleans in Louisiana. I have cousins in Georgia, so I’ll get out and travel to Georgia to visit them.”
No matter what each day brings, Marilyn does her best to help everyone with a smile on her face. She offers a bright smile and optimistic outlook on whatever situation she is faced with.
