Turning corporate values into community action: One Heber family’s second act

Tom and Marilyn Fowler. Photo: Dana Klein

From teenage sweethearts to community champions, Tom and Marilyn Fowler's journey spans decades of corporate moves, family growth, and philanthropic endeavors, ultimately leading them to become the heart of the Wasatch Community Foundation.

HEBER, Utah — In the serene landscape of the Heber Valley, Tom and Marilyn Fowler are more than just a retired couple enjoying the mountain air – they are the heart and soul of the Wasatch Community Foundation. Starting with a teenage romance, their journey from corporate acquisitions to community champions took several moves, saw the growth of three children, and taught them countless life lessons. Tom’s illustrious career with Johnson & Johnson not only honed his work ethic and business acumen, but equipped the family with values that would bolster their community. These opportunities, paired with a long-nurtured philanthropic spirit, paved the way for Marilyn’s community involvement. Tom and Marilyn have been using their wisdom, and their own lived traumas, to help as many people as they can along the way.

Tom and Marilyn both grew up in the suburbs of Chicago. Tom attended an all boys Catholic highschool where a local dance would find mutual friends crossing paths, starting their now storied relationship. Marilyn grew up with all sisters and when Tom joined the family, he became the son her father never had. Marilyn joked, “I always wondered, does he really like me, or is it my dad?” The two have been married a remarkable 50+ years, within which the Fowlers raised two sons, a daughter, and laid roots down in many different communities as Tom became a part of Johnson & Johnson’s growth and acquisitions on the financial side. “People would always ask me if Tom was in the military since we moved around so much, to which I’d reply (with a laugh), ‘The corporate military.’”

Tom was recruited to work for J&J straight out of college as an accountant, a fortuitous opportunity that he holds in high esteem as it led to some of the greatest successes in his lifetime. He would go on to receive his MBA in Finance.Tom and family’s first move would be to New Jersey – J&J’s corporate headquarters. Boston, Ft Lauderdale, Philadelphia, and Cincinnati followed. A story dear to their heart was when their youngest, Lisa, didn’t know what to tell her grade-school teacher when asked where she was from, instead, she burst into tears.

Tom commented, “I always felt obligated to make the moves that the company was asking of me. To do the job that I was asked to do. I know it was hard on the kids, and on Marilyn. I never could have achieved the success, and made the life for us that we have, if it weren’t for Marilyn and the kids’ support,” said Tom. One of the ways Marilyn established roots as newbies in each community was through volunteering.

“I was raised to honor giving back. Every time we moved, I would find a part time job and a place to volunteer. That was my way of taking care of the kids after school, but also contributing to our shared responsibilities. When I wasn’t working at home, I would volunteer so I could meet people and learn about the community,” Marilyn said.

Tom credits the J&J Credo for a lot of the values instilled in his family and the way they navigated life and its obstacles. “The Credo focused on four areas of J&J’s responsibilities: The mothers, the fathers, the doctors using the products, the employees who work in the offices and facilities, the communities in which we live and work and, lastly, the shareholders…in that order,” Tom said. “The strength in the community, and the people within the community, was the pinnacle.”

Tom, Marilyn, and children are now spread across the country with kids of their own. With retirement on the horizon, the Fowlers started exploring retirement locations during vacations. Wyoming, Florida, and Utah (Heber Valley) made the short list. With a brother who served at Hill Air Force Base, the 2002 Olympics, multiple vacations, and some real estate savvy, the Fowler’s positioned themselves on some great land ahead of the boom in the Valley.

“We were moving somewhere that we all had to start from scratch,” Marilyn said. “Usually Tom would move ahead, connect with some coworkers, and have a small community of known contacts wherever we went, but for me and the kids, we were always starting from scratch.”

Lisa followed her parents to Heber Valley. She runs her own swim school business and teaches in Park City School District. Her husband, Dean, is the go-to guy with recreational equipment and just can’t pass a broken down vehicle without stopping to help. Tom and Marilyn love having one grandchild always nearby, while their six other grandchildren live across the United States. Brian, their oldest son, is an Opthamologist in Memphis and brought the Cataract-athon to the city serving those in need. He also does a surgical children’s mission each year in Guatemala.

Their middle child, Mike, followed in his father’s footsteps working for Johnson & Johnson, earning his MBA and moving his family with the company. Unfortunately, he developed mental illness, left his family, and is currently homeless. The Fowlers are struggling, as a family, to support and work through the trauma of Mike’s mental health issues.

Tom and Marilyn shared, with deep compassion and openness, the trauma they’ve lived collectively as a family. Through their story, they shed light on the systemic gaps in mental health support, even for families that may have the financial means. They hope to see their son find his way to recovery and stability away from homelessness, and while the reality and heartache of his challenges hasn’t ended, they are working to expand services and support in their own community so that others won’t have to face these struggles alone.

As the Fowlers began anew in their retirement home, Tom and Marilyn looked to volunteer, “What better place to go than the chamber, right?” Marylin said. Tom and Marylin’s first assignment was to park cars at the Thomas the Train event, That was the springboard into eventually supporting the Wasatch Community Foundation and Cowboy Poetry.

Marilyn connected Tom, with his financial background, to the leaders of Cowboy Poetry. Already a successful yearly event, but in need of financial guidance. With Tom’s help, Cowboy Poetry enjoyed another ten years of success.

Tom became the Chair of the Wasatch Community Foundation in late 2019 when they were going through major changes. The Fowlers took on the challenge of what would equate to some as a new career undertaking. He would leverage the values and successful framework learned at J&J to shape the structure of the foundation. He brought together a talented and committed board of professionals to renovate the foundation to the thriving 501c3 it is today. The Foundation’s motto, ‘By the Community, For the Community’ supports all the residents of the Valley through its five Pillars established by the founders: Health, Recreation, Education, Arts, and Human Services.

These initiatives have made way for several of the foundation’s most beloved events and services, many of which Marilyn and Tom have had their hands in. A renewed focus on self-reliance is part of the Health and Human Services Pillars.

“Every year the hospital and health department do a study to understand what is impacting the community most, and what they found was that isolation was the number one issue,” Marilyn said. “The community foundation is connecting people, providing opportunities to volunteer, to grow their own food, and really just getting people involved.”

“We try to empower people to find ways to support themselves,” Tom added, “If people are engaging and making progress within our programs, hopefully we have empowered them to be self-reliant and to be members of the community, removed the feelings of isolation, and opened the doors to neighbors and to then support others when the time is right.”

Their journey is marked with challenges and triumphs, but is fueled with passion and commitment to improving the lives of those in their community, a credo all their own. The Fowlers are well-practiced in taking action and doing for this community what they knew they could do for all the communities they’ve been a part of, using their specific gifts and talents to move the needle forward.

Leadership is defined as “bringing talented and caring people together to achieve results that could never be achieved alone.” Their results could only be achieved by the caring and talented people of the Heber Valley.

“We can’t say we are ‘from’ Heber,” says Marylin, “but the Valley is our Home!”