Marissa was born in Brunswick, Georgia on October 17th, 1985, to mother Tatia Williams and grandparents Kent and Brenda Williams. Marissa grew up in Whitefish, Montana; Yuma, Arizona; Altoona, Pennsylvania, where her sister Amber Williams was born; and Summerville, South Carolina.

Marissa was an avid fan of watersports (including kayaking, boating, snorkeling, parasailing, and diving), being interested in these areas from a young age. She became SCUBA certified out of personal interest and used her airboating license while working for the City of Casselberry.

When she wasn't on the water, Marissa loved being in nature and often spent her free time at places like the beach and Wekiwa Springs State Park. Marissa also regularly went camping and attended local camping events and festivals.

Outside of exploring nature, Marissa loved passing time drinking craft beers with her friends. She and her best friend Jim drank every beer on the bar The Copper Rocket's beer list twice in order to obtain a personalized mug to use at the bar. She was always excited to try new craft beers when vacationing across the US and Central America.

One of Marissa's favorite hobbies was pinball, to the point that she had a flipper tattooed on her wrist! While playing pinball, she was graceful, fierce, competitive, and never without a smile on her face while playing! Marissa was a fierce competitor but she always said her goal was just to have fun playing, and it showed on her face. She brought joy to everyone she played with. She would usually beat you, but she would do it with a smile on her face and encouraging words for those playing with her. If you let her know you were winning, you usually wouldn’t be winning much longer! She had this amazing ability to turn it up at any moment and turn a bad game into a high score.

Marissa played pinball all over Florida, going as far as to rented machines to play in her house during the pandemic. If there was pinball, she wanted to play there! From I-Pinball to the Artcade, the Replay Museum to Hourglass Brewing, bar and hotel pinball hoping, District, and especially The Pinball Lounge!

At The Pinball Lounge, she played in the doubles pinball league, 10x10 Tournaments, and helped run ladies’ events. Over the years, Marissa had played in league with three partners: Joe, Jim, and Kyndal. The new league season just recently started and Marissa and Kyndal's team were tied for second place after the first week! The rest of the season will be very hard but will be dedicated to “Playing for Marissa.” She is very missed at pinball league.

Marissa was a member of Belles and Chimes Florida, a pinball group for female pinball players. She was a proud member of this group and loved when female pinball players came together. To continue to bring more ladies together, she and Kyndal created the Ladies of the Lounge group with the owners of the Pinball Lounge. Together they organized events like a Galentine’s Day Event and Ladies Tournament, where Marissa was a rock star decorating the lounge, being a welcoming host to all, and even placing second in the tournament. She helped inspire many women to want to compete in more tournaments and be more active in the pinball community. The next event, Lei Day Ladies Tournament and All you Can Play, was set for Saturday, May 1st, 2021. She was very excited about this event and loved that it was a tropical beach theme, as the beach was her favorite place. This event will continue as planned but now be held in her honor as a celebration of her life and her lasting impact on the pinball community!  

Here are Marissa's pinball highlights:

• Belles and Chimes Tournament- 1st Place
• Ladies of the Lounge Galentine’s Day Tournament- 2nd Place
• Pinball Lounge Bonanza- 2nd Place
• Tournament Fridays at District- 4th Place
• Pinball Lounge 10x10 Tournament- Highest score on "Loop the Loop"
• Pinball League: Marissa’s Perfect Night- She scored all points she possibly could and had the highest score on every machine played! She then followed that up after league play by putting up a grand champion score on Iron Maiden.

Pinball Ranking:

• World- 5,325
• IFPA- 62,338

Marissa's Favorite Pinball Machines, all of which are ironically Williams machines:

• The Machine: Bride of Pin-Bot
• Jack-Bot
• White Water
• Fish Tales

  

Anyone who knew Marissa knew she was passionate about environmental education and outreach. Her internship with the Cambrian Foundation began in 2004, and over the course of her 17 years of service, her responsibilities expanded to include the role of Project Director on the Florida Springs Biodiversity Project and Assistant Director on the Bermuda Cave Conservation Expeditions. Marissa was the recipient of the Cambrian Foundation's Legare R. Hole, III, Memorial Scholarship in 2007 for her outstanding service to the Foundation. Marissa had a gift for communicating scientific information to people and kids of all ages, and she was an enthusiastic, organized, and talented leader. Her dedication to conservation education with the Cambrian Foundation can be seen in the film “Clear Water, Clean Water: Exploring the Floridan Aquifer” where Schoolyard Films featured her work as an environmental educator.