Marilyn Barton was born and raised in Philadelphia, PA. In 1980, after earning a BSN from Georgetown University, she worked as an RN in Kentucky and Virginia. Hospital settings included: critical care, ER, research, staff education, health outreach, and quality.
Marilyn developed an interest in writing in 1986 while serving on the editorial board of Riverside Health System’s nursing magazine. In 2007, the board combined highlights from the magazine with new stories to create a coffee table book, The Color of Their Eyes: Celebrating the Art and Science of Nursing.
As a community service, Marilyn became certified as a Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) instructor after observing mental health issues being under-treated in medical care. She taught MHFA classes from 2012 to 2017, helping nurses and others understand the basics of anxiety, depression, psychosis, substance abuse, and suicide prevention.
In 2016, after a thirty-five year career, Marilyn retired and had the freedom to write stories from her perspective. Pulse — More Voices, published twenty of these.
Marilyn is a member of Hampton Roads Writers. She also attends meetings with two local groups, Tidewater Writers and Virginia Beach Writers, for readings, critiques, and camaraderie.
In 2019, she presented “Mental Health Themes in Books, Movies, and TV Shows” for the Traveling Pen Workshop Series sponsored by Hampton Roads Writers and “How to Write Characters with Mental Illness: Culture vs. Science” at The Muse Writers Center in Norfolk where she is a member.
Additionally, she created a website about her father’s naval service aboard the USS Kendall C. Campbell destroyer escort during World War II.