Edmund Marriner, 90

Retired engineer became famous for discovering ancient skull of ‘Laguna Beach Woman.’Edmund Hayes Marriner -- who helped find the 17,000-year-old “Laguna Beach Woman” skull in 1933 -- died in San Luis Obispo on Nov. 20 at the age of 90.

Born in Lincoln, Neb., on August 15, 1915, Marriner moved to Laguna Beach in 1924. In 1933, he accompanied his teenage friend Howard Wilson to an undeveloped area on St. Ann’s Drive, where the two thought they could find Indian artifacts. They ended up digging up a portion of a skull that was identified some 35 years later as the oldest human in the United States -- at least 17,000 years old -- and would go down in archeological history as Laguna Beach Woman.

While both were credited with the find, Wilson kept the skull at his home for many years and eventually brought it to famed archeologist Louis Leakey, who recognized its importance.

Marriner moved to La Jolla in 1946, where he lived until 1998. He retired as electronics engineer with the U.S. Naval Electronics Laboratory after 34 years of civil service, including jobs with the FBI, Civil Aeronautics Administration and the Scripps Oceanography Research unit of the University of California’s War Research Department.

An amateur radio pioneer, he was elected to the CQ Magazine Hall of Fame in 2005 in recognition of hundreds of articles he wrote about ham radio construction.

About eight years ago, he and his wife, Wilda Manning Marriner, moved to San Luis Obispo. They celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary July 6.

Marriner is survived by his wife, Wilda, of San Luis Obispo; son, Harry, of Bogota, Colombia; daughter, Carla Marriner Bowlin, and husband, Douglas, of Atascadero; five grandchildren and one great-grandchild.