Gene Wesley Marshall was born in Stillwater, Oklahoma on January 3, 1932. At the age of 93, Gene died peacefully at his home in Bonham on the morning of August 21, 2025.
Preceded in death by his beloved family members:
Sister: Karldene Marshall Cleveland age 82-2016
Father: Carl Ernest Marshall age 91-1993
Mother: Gladys Irene Bobeck Marshall age 94-1998
First Wife: Ruth Wilson age 91-2022
Also 3 Grandparents (My father’s mother died before I was born.)
And 9 Aunts and Uncles and many cousins.
Survived by beloved family:
Wife: Joyce Ann Miller Cunningham Marshall; Bonham, Texas
Children:
Wayne Wesley Marshall; Ojai, California with Katherine McClelland
David Paul Marshall; California with Kate Marshall
Kathleen Ruth Marshall; Sisters, Oregon
Eva Teresa Marshall; San Pablo, California with Ann Persson
Grandchildren:
Emily, Ben, Bryce, and Lily
Great-grandchildren:
Parker
Step Family:
Leslie K. Ephland; Missoula, Montana
Jan Cunningham; Missoula, Montana with Kris Gray
Niece and Nephews:
Randy, Linda, Tom and Gary
Gene Wesley Marshall began his education at Oklahoma State University as a mathematician and physicist. In 1953 he decided to leave a mathematics career and attend seminary at Perkins School of Theology in Dallas, Texas. He has served as a local church pastor, a chaplain in the army, and in 1962 joined a religious order of families (the Order: Ecumenical). For six years he served as dean of the Ecumenical Institute’s eight-week residential “Academy” that trained leadership for religious and social engagements with participants from many parts of the world. He also traveled the United States, Latin America, Europe, India, Hong Kong, and Australia as a teacher and lecturer on religious and social ethics topics. In the early 1960s he was an active participant in the civil rights revolution, serving for two years as the Protestant executive of the National Conference on Religion and Race. In the mid 1980s he was one of the organizers of the bioregional movement.
Beginning in 1984 Gene and Joyce Marshall organized a non-for-profit educational organization, “Realistic Living,” and began co-teaching innovative programs and workshops plus publishing journals, books, and essays. Gene’s Memoir, his 12th book-length project will soon be added to these important volumes: The Thinking Christian, So Be Free, and From Empire to Eco-Democracy. Joyce and Gene have lived 33 years in Bonham, Texas—27 in a straw-bale house of their design.