About the author

     Marilyn (Porter) McCall was reared in Perry Township, Clarion County, Pennsylvania, just one mile outside the City of Parker. She graduated from the Allegheny-Clarion Valley High School in Foxburg. Following high school graduation, she relocated to Northern Virginia to work for the federal government, Department of the Navy.  Marilyn married William R. McCall, Jr., and he joined her in Virginia. The McCall's have two daughters and sons-in-law, Angela and Kodi Killion of Virginia and Kelly and Greg Johnson of Tennessee, nine grandchildren of Virginia, Tennessee, and Colorado, and one step great granddaughter of Virginia.

Marilyn holds an A.S. Degree from the Northern Virginia Community College and a B.S. degree from the University of Maryland University College (now Global Campus). She also earned a Certificate from Penn State University's Rural/Urban Leadership (RULE) course of study, Class XIII. Marilyn served her country for 26-1/2 years as a Department of Defense civilian employee. She began as a Clerk Typist in 1972 and moved into the management field in 1985. From 1985 until her retirement in 1999, she worked as a Management Analyst. She completed her career with the Federal government in 1999 when she accepted an early retirement and returned to Parker, PA. Bill joined Marilyn in Parker shortly after.

Marilyn has served her community over the years as follows: Shenandoah Shores Volunteer Fire Department, Front Royal, VA, President and Emergency Medical Technician (1986-1988); Kiwanis Club of Stephens City, VA (1996-1997), Board of Directors (1997); Kiwanis Club of Allegheny-Clarion Valley, Emlenton, PA (2001); Foxburg Area Information Center (2005-2006); President of the Parker City Revitalization Corporation (2005-2012); City Council member of Parker (2006-2018): Director of Parks & Recreation, Personnel, Community Development & Revitalization, and Public Affairs, and a member of the Finance Committee; and Chair, Blueprint Communities Initiative working in cooperation with Emlenton and Foxburg (2014-2018). Her husband, Bill, served as Mayor of the City of Parker for 16 years (2004-2019).

      Marilyn is a member of the Scrubgrass Stitchers Quilting Guild and Order of the Eastern Star (Clarion Chapter No. 267, previously Parker Chapter). She is a former member of the Ford City Writers’ Group.

      Marilyn published her First Edition of From Boom to Bust: The Making of “The Smallest City in the U.S.A.” – Parker, Pennsylvania, in 2008. In 2009, she published Ben Hogan’s Wild Ride, the story of the legendary bad man of the Oil Region and his reformation. She published her Second Edition of From Boom to Bust in 2024. Ben Hogan's Wild Ride and the Second Edition of From Boom to Bust are available from the author on her website at www.fromboomtobust2.com. She is presently working on Flash Point, a historical fiction novel about Parker’s fires.

       Marilyn was honored by the City of Parker as Citizen of the Year in 2008 for publishing the First Edition of From Boom to Bust, and by the Leader Times, Kittanning, Pennsylvania, on April 26, 2022, as one of 10 “Armstrong’s Women of the Workforce” for writing the two books mentioned above.