Maribel Sanchez Souther

Hanover, N.H. — Maribel Sanchez Souther, 41, died peacefully on Saturday, Dec. 31, 2016, after a two and a half year battle with Stage IV breast cancer.

Maribel was born April 6, 1975, in New York, N.Y., the second child of Maria and Silvio Sanchez who immigrated to the United States from the Dominican Republic in 1969 & 1972, respectively. She was raised in the NYC area. She began running at the age of seven, and with the encouragement of her parents, she was quickly drawn to distance running. She attended Yorktown High School where she excelled in academics and cross country/track.

Maribel moved to the Upper Valley for the first time in the fall of 1992 to attend Dartmouth College. She was a standout runner from her first fall in Hanover helping to rebuild the women’s distance team. She won the 1994 US Junior Cross Country Championship & represented the United States at the Junior World Championships in Hungary. She won two Ivy League titles in Cross Country, three in Indoor Track, three in Outdoor Track and led the 1996 cross country team to a fifth place NCAA finish. She was the first Dartmouth female runner to be an All-American in Cross Country. She ended her career as a 4-time All American. At graduation she was awarded the Class of 1976 Award as Dartmouth’s most outstanding female athlete.

Upon graduation she stayed in Hanover running professionally, teaching and coaching the Hanover high school track team. Maribel left the Upper Valley in 1998 to run professionally in Boston and qualified for the 2000 Olympic Trials but an injury forced her not to compete. Moving to Boston enabled her to live with some rowers which is how she met the love of her life, John, to whom she was married for 13 years. In 2002, she accepted an assistant coaching position at Dartmouth, the second time she moved to the Upper Valley. She became the Head Cross Country and Assistant Track Coach in 2003, a position she held until 2010.

Maribel and John moved from Enfield to Hanover in 2005 and started their family. Their sons, Jackson (8) and Paco (6) and daughter, Christine (2), fill their house with fun and laughter. After coaching, she played an active role in having Spanish classes begin at an earlier grade at the Ray School, the boys’ elementary school. She also made time to help as a classroom parent helper and any way she could enrich the lives of her children and their classmates.

Maribel will be remembered as a loving wife, mother, daughter, sister, and the most supportive friend. There was nothing she enjoyed more than her children or going for a run.

Maribel is survived by her husband John; sons, Jackson and Paco; daughter, Christine; mother, Maria; father, Silvio; sisters, Bernadette and Jennifer; brother, Silvio; six nieces and nephews and an extended family too numerous to list. All will miss her greatly.

Funeral Mass will be held Saturday, Jan. 7, 2016, at 1 p.m. with calling hours on Friday at 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Saint Denis Catholic Church in Hanover.

In lieu of flowers, please send gifts to The Maribel Sanchez Souther 1996 Memorial Scholarship Fund supporting minority student track & field and cross country athletes at Dartmouth College, 6066 Development Office, Hanover NH 03755. An on-line form is available at dartgo.org/MaribelFund. Terms of this fund are available from the Dartmouth Development Office.

To view an online memorial and or send a message of condolence to the family please visit, www.rand-wilson.com.

Arrangements are under the direction of the Rand-Wilson Funeral Home of Hanover.