William Roy Marshall

1945 - 2018

William Roy Marshall

Phoenix - William Roy Marshall was born on October 30, 1945 in Geneva, Pennsylvania to Blanche Rose McEntire and William Owen Marshall. He was the youngest of five children; his older sister, Dorothy Elaine Marshall, died at two weeks of age. He lived on his parent's seven-acre farm in Pennsylvania from the age of six months until he was six years old. When he was school age, his family left Adamsville, Pennsylvania to live in Mesa, Arizona. Bill grew to love the desert area and especially Superstition Mountain.

Bill's natural mechanical abilities combined with an aptitude for mathematics led him to study Electrical Engineering at ASU. He graduated from ASU in 1968 and moved to California to work in the Aerospace Industry. Throughout his career with Rockwell Aerospace and Boeing, he was a member of programs that built the B-1/B-1B Bombers and the Space Shuttle and modified the C-130 Gunship. Additionally, he was on loan to McDonnell Douglas for a time where he worked on the KC-10 Tanker. At the end of his career, he worked on the 767 Tanker Project.

On September 27, 1968, Bill married Carolyn Elizabeth Laney. They were blessed with two daughters, Katryna Elise Marshall and Anne Maureen Marshall. After Bill joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he was sealed to his family for time and all eternity in the Los Angeles Temple, on July 23, 1991, one year and one day after his baptism. The sealing took place on his wife's birthday and it was the best birthday gift he ever gave her.

Bill spent his life working hard to always support his family, which was where his true devotion lay. He was a sweet, caring, quiet, and gentle man, who was loved by all who knew him. He enjoyed building and repairing machines, automobiles, tractors, trailers, and anything that he could improve.

William Roy Marshall departed this life at his daughter's (Katryna) home, in Fairfax, Virginia on March 27, 2018. His health deteriorated after hospitalization due to complications from a massive stroke he suffered in September 2016. In facing death as in life, he modeled calm, decisiveness, character, selflessness, fearlessness, love, and faith. We are forever blessed and grateful for his example.

He is deeply missed by his surviving family. His wife (Carolyn Elizabeth Laney Marshall) and daughters (Katryna Elise Marshall Robertson and Anne Maureen Marshall Mortensen) will forever cherish him. His living siblings include Mary Ellen Thurber, Stanley Owen Marshall, and Barbara Sexton. He has nine grandchildren: Nicolas Marshall Robertson, Alexander Marshall Robertson, Nathaniel Marshall Robertson, Andrew Marshall Robertson, and Savannah Elizabeth Marshall Robertson and Abigale Anne Mortensen, Fiona Rose Mortensen, Joel Christian Mortensen and Clark William-Boyd Mortensen.

The funeral service was held on April 10, 2018. The graveside dedication and interment took place afterward at San Tan Valley Memorial Gardens.