- Ronald Arthur Marshall
Ronald Arthur Marshall
Earthly Birthdate 6-23-1935
Heavenly Birthdate 6-18-2009
Born to Ralph and Edith Marshall in Seattle, WA with two older sisters, Gloria & Paul Swanson, Shirli & John Strong and two older brothers Stan & Ines Marshall and John & Pat Marshall and their individual families.
He was born into God’s family at the age of 12. The previous year his sisters had accepted Christ into their hearts as their savior at Lake Killarney Bible camp and the following summer he went to summer camp knowing that is what he wanted to do also.
Ron grew up in the Admiral district and attended West Seattle High School and transferred to the YMCA Technical School for his senior year. Being work oriented he skipped his graduation to go for an interview at the Washington State Ferry system and began working. Boeings was his next job until he enlisted in the U.S. Army, serving in Anchorage, Alaska for the Alaska Communication system as a teletype repairman. Prior to enlisting in the Army, he attended the West Seattle Assembly of God church where in the youth group he met Phyllis Nelson. While on leave, they began dating. It didn’t take long for Ron to decide this was the girl he wanted as his wife. When he was in Anchorage he had prayed that Phyllis would find a good husband, and Phyllis felt the Lord put it in her mind “I wouldn’t be surprised if I ever get married it would be to Ron Marshall.” About eight months later they were married. The Lord had answered Ron’s prayer for Phyllis. He took his bride to Anchorage for the last 10 months of his Army career, before he was discharged.
After returning to Seattle, their daughter Cindi was born, followed by their son Dayle. Dayle lives in Beaufort, SC with his wife Allison (who just celebrated their 25th anniversary on June 9th), and three children, Joshua, Emily and Jason.
Ron and Phyllis owned two homes in West Seattle. Their current home was built by his brother John, or Jack as they called him, 44 years ago qualifying them as living in the “House that Jack Built”, which was a gift from God.
Ron loved his Lord, his family, the outdoors and hiking in the mountains and woods, gardening both vegetables and flowers and the 100 year old cedar trees in the back yard. Fishing was a passion and for years while he had his boat, he enjoyed salmon fishing and went often. He also liked to follow the UW Huskies, and the Seahawks and Mariners as he worked in the yard or in the evening when he would relax from work or his projects.
He spent about 34 years working at Overall Cleaning Supplies as a driver route salesman, taking about three days off for sick leave during those years. He enjoyed his customers, greeting them with some funny remark or joke. He retired at the age of 58 and they took several trips in their used motorhome. Two of the trips were to Florida where Dayle and his family lived at that time. The first trip something needed fixing constantly, and most of the time Ron would be under it, taking care of the problem on a daily basis. They also used the trips to visit with other friends and family on both sides of the family and see the beauty of our country.
Despite his loud voice and his sense of humor, he had a very tender, compassionate side to him that was appreciated by his friends and relatives. Good thing that he was a fix-it man. If anything needed repairing, it was taken care of immediately. He was also a project guy – always coming up with some project. Phyllis would think he would soon run out of projects, but he would think of something else – like doing remodeling on Cindi’s house or last year’s project of filling in the pond he had made years before, returning it back to a creek that runs through their yard, making it easier to maintain. When it was winter time and he did not spend so much time outdoors, he would do projects inside like scanning slides and transferring them to disk and recording his old records and burning those to a computer disk.
After serving on various church boards throughout the years at West Seattle Assembly of God and Grace Baptist, he felt he didn’t have a ministry. Then for a few years here at Boulevard Park he worked weekly on the grounds crew, mowing the lawn, etc. In addition he became active and an officer of the Clipper Club, the senior group here at church, encouraging his friends, and helping in various ways, both his friends and neighbors. The day before his homegoing he was taking down a smaller tree for a long time friend. People would call and ask him to help with their project and repairs, or drive them to appointments. He had been talking to one friend about putting new flooring in their bathroom just a half hour before he died suddenly – a real shock to Phyllis and everyone. Even if he wasn’t feeling real good he would always have some projects each day to do. However, the Lord was good to give him good health. The only time in the 52 years they were married that Ron had to stay in the hospital was last year when he had an aortic valve replacement. He was a wonderful husband, father, grandfather and friend who will be greatly missed.
Memorial donations may be made to:
Medic One Foundation
MS 359747
325 Ninth Avenue
Seattle, WA 98104-2420
or
Samaritan’s Purse
P.O. Box 3000
Boone, NC 28607