Marvin Windows patriarch William Marvin dies at 92

When Christine Marvin thinks about her grandfather, William (Bill) Marvin, she remembers how he'd kiss her hand and call her by the nickname he gave her, Silly Christine, Christine Silly.

It was his way of making her feel special among his 17 grandchildren and 25 great-grandchildren.

Marvin, a business and civic giant in Warroad, Minn., kissed Christine's hand one last time Sunday before he died at home Monday morning at age 92.

The patriarch of the Marvin clan was known to the wider world as the man who built Marvin Windows and Doors from a small regional business to a company that now employs more than 5,300 people.

"He felt like anything was possible with the right combination of hard work and the right people working on it," said grandson Dan, 39, a manager with Marvin's Infinity Replacement Windows.

Christine, 28, who works for Marvin's as a product planning manager, said her grandfather "would sit and talk with us and tease us" in his home along the Warroad River and take his grandchildren for walks along his carefully tended gardens.

Through the way he lived his life and conducted his business, she said, he transferred his values to the third and fourth generations of Marvins.

The young Bill Marvin went to work for his father, George, 70 years ago when the elder Marvin had a lumberyard business. Bill was the company's eighth employee.

Susan Marvin, 54, said her father saw how making windows in Warroad would create jobs for his brothers, friends and other neighbors.

"He looked at this company as the product of the community," she said, and shared the benefits of its success.

Bill Marvin was president of Marvin Windows and Doors for decades, but Susan, who took on that responsibility in 1995, said her father "had a disdain for [organization] charts and titles."

"He built this phenomenal company," she said. "It was his vision and his passion and his leadership that allowed us to all come together and make it successful." But Bill Marvin wasn't focused on taking credit, she said.

In her 40s, she got to see how they nurtured a marriage that lasted 65 years. Margaret Marvin, who died in 2007, had worked as a teacher, and she and her husband shared a strong commitment to education.

"They truly believed that if an individual had an education, they had an opportunity to do anything they chose to," Susan Marvin said. "A good education was the most valuable thing that you could give somebody, and once you had it, it couldn't be taken away."

To ensure that young people have access to good educations, Bill and Margaret created an endowment fund of $15 million to be used for college scholarships for Warroad High School graduates.

Susan Marvin said that her father, a graduate of the University of Minnesota, "was adamant about being buried in his Gopher regalia" and the family will honor his wishes.

Family members said that Bill Marvin motivated them to work harder and push themselves to make greater contributions to their company and their community.

Mike Kvarnlov, owner of a car dealership in Warroad, said that Bill Marvin had a brown Chevrolet Uplander van that his caregivers used to drive him around Warroad. "As strong a person as Bill was, you couldn't stop him," Kvarnlov said, and even in the final weeks of his life, he attended community and athletic events and met with customers.

"He never missed coffee at the Dairy Queen in the morning," Kvarnlov said, referring to his gatherings with friends at the restaurant along Hwy. 11. The Dairy Queen was a favorite spot for Marvin, who just a week ago bought sundaes for friends there on his 92nd birthday.

Susan Marvin said her father's determination not to let the effects of a stroke deter him was impressive. "He showed us how to live life and how to contribute and add value at every stage of life," she said.

In addition to daughter Susan, his grandchildren and great-grandchildren, Marvin is survived by four sons, Frank, Jake, George and Robert; and another daughter, Margaret, all of Warroad; and a sister, Mary, of Minneapolis.

Arrangements are being made by Helgeson Funeral Chapel of Warroad. Visitation will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday at the William S. Marvin Visitor Center in Warroad. A funeral service for Marvin will be held at 11 a.m. Friday at the Warroad High School gymnasium, with visitation one hour before the funeral at the school.