Kenneth Marshall Obituary

Ken's 94 years were filled with love, friendship, hard work, and adventure. He was the youngest of 4 born to Lyle and Virginia Marshall in Lansing Michigan, and maintained boyhood, high school, and college friendships all his long life. At Michigan State he met Sue Ellen Giles of Watseka, Illinois and, after basic training in the Navy, he actually flew there in a friend's single engine plane to meet her mother (and buy the ring) in 1951, using road maps to find the way! The actual proposal was on a previous nighttime sail at his parents' northern lake cottage.

Ken and Sue were married the same year, started a family, and after 4 years in the service, they moved to Toledo, Ohio to work with his father and 2 older brothers in their Lansing Grain Company. After 25 years raising 3 children, active leadership in the Monroe Street Methodist Church, the YMCA, and the Boy Scouts, they began a new 5-year adventure constructing a beautiful mountain home in Durango, Colorado. Several of their friends "followed suit" and many others were frequent visitors.

The next 25 years saw Ken skiing, hiking the entire Colorado Trail, making fine furniture, playing tennis, and skippering sailboats with Sue and many friends around the Caribbean. He led trail maintenance crews, climbed all the 14ers in Colorado, was active in church and civic organizations in Durango, and financially supported many more. He took his grandchildren backpacking and taught them to ski, before beginning to winter in Ponce Inlet, Florida.

Ken is survived by his girlfriend Vivian Benezette who shared in the loss of a dear spouse, sons Steven (Beth Kaplan) and Ben (Alisann), daughter Elizabeth (Kurt Wohnsen), and grandchildren Hope, Laurel, Andie, Natalie, Ry, Seth, Noel, and 8 greatgrandchildren. A celebration of Ken's life will be held in the summer of 2024 at the family cottage in Michigan where he will be laid to rest. He requested that memorial donations be made to the charity of your own choice.