Husband misses his friend; parents keep vigil at bedside

Family waits as woman lies in coma

By Soyia Ellison

JOURNAL REPORTER

WINSTON-SALEM

January 21, 1996

Six weeks ago, a violent act shattered the routine of Jill and Aaron Marker's lives, leaving Jill Marker fighting for her life and Aaron Marker struggling to cope with life without the help and comfort of the woman who is his best friend.

Customers found Jill Marker, the manager of Silk Plant Forest in Silas Creek Crossing, lying on some silk trees in the back of the store around 9 p.m. on Dec. 9. She had been badly beaten.

She is still in a coma, in critical condition.

Aaron Marker, the manager at TJ's Deli in Sherwood Plaza, said he has been working long hours to pay the bills and keep his mind off his troubles.

"I've been really busy, and that helps," he said. "But I think about it all the time. It's impossible not to."

Police Capt. Rodney Rumple said investigators have no new leads in the case. Because money was missing from the cash register, detectives think robbery may have been the motive for the attack. They now are waiting for Marker to regain consciousness so that they can ask her what happened, he said.

While Jill Marker fights for her life, a new life grows inside her. She is six months pregnant with her first child, and doctors say the baby is doing fine, Aaron Marker said.

The Markers met at an Ohio restaurant where they both worked. They have been married for five years and have made it over the hurdles that couple often face in their first few years of marriage, he said.

"We really get along well."

He described his wife as a caring, spunky, efficient woman.

"She's a little bossy, but other than that, I like her pretty well," he said with a laugh.

He said he misses her terribly.

"I don't have really any friends," he said. "I have acquaintances, but she is my only friend."

Without her, decisions take twice as long to make, housework takes twice as long to do. They always made decisions together, he said. They split the household chores — she cleaned the upstairs, he tackled the downstairs; he loaded the washer and dryer, she folded the clean clothes.

"I'm, like, missing my other half. That's the hardest thing," he said.

Jill Marker's parents, Bud and Edna Hoisington of Akron, Ohio, have been keeping vigil at the hospital since the day after the attack.

But there has been little for them to do but wait and hope.

Every day, they make the trip to Marker's hospital room to sit by her bed, listening to the sounds of the respirator as the hours turn to days, the days to weeks.

Marker, 34, is the Hoisington's only daughter.

She graduated from Kent State University with a degree in elementary education and taught school in Akron, Ohio; Columbus, Ga., and here. But teaching didn't pay well, and the hassles had started to outweigh the rewards. So about a year ago, she took a job at Silk Plant Forest.

"She really liked that job," Aaron Marker said. "She got to be creative … she got to talk to adults all day."

Her bosses were pleased with her work, Hoisington said. "She was doing quite well until some individual almost took her life, and now she's trying real hard to hold on," he said, his voice tightening. "That's real hard to say."

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