Delilah Marley

Delilah Marley was born July 7, 1978, in Daru, Western Province, Papua New Guinea. She is the next-to-last child in a family of nine children. Delilah grew up in a Methodist family until her parents accepted the Sabbath truth in the early 1980s.

In 1996 she met Lucas and they dated for four years. On the 19th of December 1999, Delilah and Lucas were married at the Daru Seventh-day Adventist Church in Papua New Guinea. Lucas and Delilah served God for 17 years before Lucas was accepted into the Master of Divinity program at the SDA Theological Seminary at Andrews University. After being accepted into the program, the Marley family arrived in Berrien Springs on the 31st of August 2015, where they began their new journey.

On Friday, January 5, 2018, Lucas and Delilah went shopping, returned to Maplewood Apartments, and found their parking lot filled with snow. Lucas decided to begin shoveling but Delilah said she wanted to shovel. While removing the snow, she complained that her head hurt so Lucas took the shovel and continued. Lucas heard a sound, turned, found Delilah laying in the snow and experiencing a seizure. An ambulance was called, and Delilah was rushed to Lakeland Medical Center in St. Joseph. She was later transferred to Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo.

On January 16 at 5:41 p.m., Delilah breathed her last breath. She is survived by her husband, Pastor Lucas Marley, and four children: Flossy, 17; Loissy, 11; only son Elldon, 8; and Ellsy, seven months old.

Her life has been a blessing as a child of God, wife, mother, daughter, sister, and friend. We will continue to celebrate her life, and we thank God for being a part of it. Rest in peace, Delilah, we will see you on the Golden Shore when Jesus comes again.