Gene Wesley Marshall

Gene Wesley Marshall, age 93, passed away quietly at his home in Bonham on August 21, 2025. He was born in Stillwater, Oklahoma on January 3, 1932, the son of Carl Ernest Marshall and Gladys Irene Bobeck Marshall.

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.

He is preceded in death by his beloved family members, parents, Carl and Gladys Marshall, sister, Karldene Marshall Cleveland, first wife, Ruth Wilson, and nine aunts and uncles and many cousins.

Gene is survived by his beloved family; wife, Joyce Ann Miller Cunningham Marshall, children: Wayne Wesley Marshall; Ojai, California with Katherine McClelland, David Paul Marshall; California with Kate Marshall, and Kathleen Ruth Marshall; Oregon; sisters, Eva Teresa Marshall; San Pablo, California with Ann Persson; grandchildren, Emily, Ben, Bryce, and Lily, along with one great- grandchild, Parker. Stepfamily: Leslie K. Ephland; Missoula, Montana, Jan Cunningham; Missoula, Montana with Kris Gray, niece and nephews: Randy, Linda, Tom, and Gary.

To share a memory or leave an online condolence, visit www.coopersorrells.com