Marshall K. Lovelette

WEST YARMOUTH — Marshall K. Lovelette, of West Yarmouth, died on March 31, 2008. He moved his family to Higgins Crowell Road in 1959 and operated Marshall K. Lovelette Insurance Agency and Colonial Realty on Route 28 in West Yarmouth for more than 50 years.

Mr. Lovelette was born and raised in Richford, Vt., and attended the University of Vermont upon high school graduation. A combat veteran, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, he enlisted in the Navy and served from 1942-1946, reaching the rank of torpedoman's mate first class. He served in both the North Atlantic and Pacific theaters and defended his country in the major sea battles in World War II in the Pacific. Mr. Lovelette received a commendation as chief of the crew that sank an enemy submarine off Saipan in the Marianas. Additionally, he was decorated for his service in the Marshall Islands, Gilberts, Marianas, Peleliu, New Guinea, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. After the end of the war, he was part of the United States Occupancy Force in Japan, disarming enemy warships.

In mid-1946, Mr. Lovelette returned to the states and enrolled at St. Michael's College in the Winooski Park section of Colchester, Vt. He graduated, with honors, in the Class of 1950, and on Thanksgiving Day of that year, married the former Kathleen L. McKenna of Worcester.

The Lovelettes lived in Worcester for nine years prior to moving to Cape Cod. They moved to West Yarmouth in 1959, where Marshall had started the family business in 1958. Eventually, the insurance business became the mainstay for the family.

In his years in Yarmouth, Marshall participated in many town, civic and volunteer roles. He was a life member of the Mid-Cape Lions Club, a member of the VFW, and former member of the Bass River Golf Club, as well as a communicant of St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Hyannis. He had various volunteer positions in town government, culminating as the head of the personnel board for many years. Additionally, he was president of the trustees of the West Yarmouth Library Association for many years.

He leaves his wife of 57 years, Kathleen; two sons, Timothy and his wife Jane of Yarmouthport, and Stephen and his wife Margaret of Northbrook, Ill.; six grandchildren, Marshall and his wife Sara, Amy, Brendan, Patricia, Stephen and Thomas; and a great-granddaughter, Anna. He also leaves two brothers, Frederick of Richford, and Neal of Stanhope, N.J., and Richford; and two sisters, Lillian Beth of Essex Junction, Vt., and Mary Jane of Euless, Texas.

Visiting hours will be held at the Doane, Beal & Ames Funeral Home, 160 W. Main St., Hyannis, from 4 to 8 p.m., on Wednesday, March 2, 2008. A Mass of Christian burial will be celebrated at St. Francis Xavier Church, 347 South St., Hyannis, on Thursday, March 3, 2008, at 10 a.m. Interment will follow at St. Francis Xavier Cemetery in Centerville.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the St. Francis Xavier Preparatory School, 33 Cross St., Hyannis, MA 02601.

Doane, Beal & Ames

508-775-0684