Marya Repko

There were only two of us, and Marya was five years my senior. It wasn’t until she moved to England in the 60s that I missed her. After a few years working for Cambridge University Press, she married and moved to the Netherlands, where she started her own computer programming business. After another ten years she moved her business to Dublin, and that is when I began to visit her regularly. By this time she was a personality – a confident, admired, successful businesswoman – a rarity in the Dublin of the 1980s.  

She owned a small but attractive house on a cliff overlooking the Irish Sea. She would send me tickets to come and visit, then lend me a car to explore the old world towns of ancient Ireland. Then she would take me to point-to-point horse racing meets where she would stand by the points with her camera as the long-legged horses carried their jockeys high in the air and the thunder of hooves of a dozen horses was exhilarating.  

By the late 90s, she was single again and ready to retire. She acquired a little condo on Sanibel Island – which she loaned to me and my new bride, Paula, for our honeymoon. On one of her forays, she discovered Everglades City. I still admire her energy and interest in local history and the books she produced – an interest that we share. When she became so ill last year, Paula and I flew to Florida from Connecticut at least once a month to help look after her until her indomitable energy no longer sustained her. She is now at peace, and I love her more than ever. 

Donations may be made to the Marya Repko Historical Library fund and mailed to ESHP, P.O. Box 46, Everglades City, FL 34139. 

By Matthew Goldman

Marya and I met over 20 years ago while serving on the Friends of the Museum board. We continued our partnership by co-editing The Mullet Rapper. I couldn’t have done it without her. She was responsible for creating the layout and contributed articles.

What many people don’t know is how many non-profit organizations she was involved with in this area: in addition to the Museum, she was active with the Friends of Fakahatchee, and a founding member of our Everglades Society for Historic Preservation. Marya liked to work behind the scenes from her apartment, spending hours every day at her computer, researching and gathering information for various groups –the Everglades Community Church, ReachOut, and many others.
Marya had her own publishing company – ECity Publishing – she was prolific in writing about our history, our people.
She organized events including Art-in-the-Glades, music festivals for our fundraisers.
She wrote books for children so they could learn about their history, even publishing some in Spanish.
Our Everglades community has been forever changed because of her adopting our little town 26 years ago. She gave unselfishly to others.

By Patty Huff