Lynette Suzanne Eklund

Lynette Suzanne Eklund left this life on Thursday, July 20, 2023, after a brief but serious illness. She was born in Wheeling, WV to Nelle and Wilbur Maurer on July 23, 1949, and lived in Cadiz, OH for the first few years of her life. Lyn and her family moved to Massillon, OH before she started elementary school, and she remained a Massillon Tiger well beyond her graduation in 1967.

One afternoon in 1974, while taking her dog to the vet, she met her future husband who was working as a vet tech at the time. Lyn and Mark would be inseparable from then on. They eloped to Winchester, VA, and married on August 28, 1976, and went on to adopt their only child, Kristen, in 1985.

She was a huge football fan and loved watching the Browns, The Ohio State Buckeyes, and the Massillon Tigers. Some of her favorite memories included tailgating with good friends and traveling to games with her husband in their conversion van. After she retired from the Ohio Industrial Commission, where she worked as a Workers' Compensation Hearing Officer, she often enjoyed lounging beside the pool or on the beach listening to Golden Oldies on the radio. Lyn knew no strangers and would run into someone she knew no matter where she went. She could entertain you for hours with stories of her travels, her grandkids, and good times with friends.

Even though her last several weeks of life were spent in a nursing home and the hospital, Lyn was lucky enough to have her oldest granddaughter working at the nursing home she was at and helping to care for her. Lyn made sure that every employee there knew stories about her grandkids, heard all about their accomplishments, and saw their pictures. She was very proud of her grandkids and would tell anyone she met about them.

The night that Lyn passed away turned into a story she would have wanted to be told. The day was full of laughter and jokes at her bedside. Her husband, daughter, and grandchildren told stories and reminisced in hopes that she could hear their words and be comforted by them. The evening brought severe storms and a tornado warning, and Lyn’s granddaughters spent the duration of the storm locked down in the hospital room with their grandma. Even with the chaotic weather outside the window, the room remained calm. When the storm finally ended, the sky opened up, the stars came out, and Lyn quietly slipped away into the night. She was a force to be reckoned with, and she made sure everyone knew it. Even in her last moments, she was the storm.

She is survived by her husband of nearly 47 years, (Nils) Mark of Canton, OH, and her daughter Kristen of Massillon, OH. She leaves behind her four grandchildren, Kendall (19), Riley (17), Nolan (16), and Parker (13) of Massillon, OH, as well as her brother Jim (Carla) Maurer of Hudson, OH.

She is preceded in death by her mom, Nelle Maurer, who she missed dearly, as well as her father, Wilbur Maurer, and many aunts, uncles, cousins, and some very dear friends who became like family over the years.

Cremation has already taken place, with inurnment to take place at the Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery at a later date. There will be a celebration of life dinner with close friends and family to be announced. Cards and messages of condolences for the family can be mailed to her husband, Mark Eklund, at 2643 Kinlinwood Ct NW Apt 5, Canton OH 44708.

Lynette Suzanne Eklund

Wife, Mom, Grandma

7/23/1949 - 7/20/2023

Greatly Loved, Deeply Missed

“We are all stories, in the end, remembered by the adventures we had, the achievements we made, and the people we loved. So make sure your story is a good one.” – Nishan Panwar