Mararuth (Schneiter) (Gaunt) Mallett, 98, of Evansville , passed away on Monday, December 17, 2007, at the Evansville Protestant Home, where she had lived for the last twelve years. She was born February 13, 1909, in Evansville .

Her parents, Frederick Louis Schneiter and Ida Elizabeth Thixton, moved to Evansville in 1905 from Louisville , Kentucky . They became very active members of the St. Mark's Lutheran Church . Their daughter, Mararuth, was the first child listed on the Sunday School Cradle Role, and she was a lifelong member of St. Mark's. She attended Campbell (later Culver) Grade School, Central High School for two years, and was Valedictorian of the 1926 class of the newly opened Bosse High School . She studied music and organ at DePauw University where she was accompanist for the University Choir and became a member of Alpha Chi Omega sorority.

She taught for twenty years in the Evansville Public Schools as a kindergarten assistant teacher at Culver, Howard Roosa, Stanley Hall, and Caze schools, retiring in 1974. She gave piano lessons in her home to literally hundreds of children, some of whom have been sending her Christmas greetings for over sixty years.

On Thanksgiving in 1934, she married John Gaunt, whose uncle had been the pastor at St. Mark's. He died in November 1957. In April 1977, she married Edward Mallett, a longtime St. Mark's member who died in January 1981. She served as church organist at St. Mark's in 1926-27 and then returned in 1929, beginning 56 years of continuous service as organist until she retired in 1985. She was a charter member of the American Guild of Organists, and an A.G.O. scholarship was established at St. Mark's in her honor.

She is survived by her son, Jack Gaunt (wife Marcia) of West Lafayette , Ind. ; grandson, Jeff Gaunt (wife Laura) of Phoenix , Arizona ; and great-grandsons, Harrison and Parker Gaunt. Also surviving are Bill Mallett of Dallas , Texas , Gordon Mallett (wife Carole) of Zionsville , Ind. , and Kathy Zbinden (husband Hans) of Fairlawn , Ohio .

Services will be 10 a.m. Saturday, December 22, 2007, at St. Mark's Lutheran Church , 2300 Washington Avenue , Evansville , officiated by the Rev. Karen Husby and Chaplain Greg Barnett, with burial at Alexander Park Lawn. Friends may visit Friday from 4 to 7 p.m. at Alexander East Chapel, 2115 Lincoln Avenue .