CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Alice Hepner Marshall, 80, died here Oct. 30. School teacher and office secretary, Marshall was "both a delightful and fascinating person with her own interests and a fierce supporter of her husband," said the Rev. Robert N. Bacher, executive for administration in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Office of the Bishop.
Marshall "married a college classmate in 1943, during his second year of seminary," she wrote of herself. Her husband, the Rev. Robert J. Marshall, went on to become president of the Lutheran Church in America -- one of three church bodies that became the ELCA in 1988. Robert Marshall is now senior scholar in residence at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, an ELCA seminary.
"Alice kept a creative tension between being the wife of a world Lutheran leader and her own strong sense of self," said Bacher. "We will miss her. We thank God for her presence among us."
Alice Marshall was born of missionary parents in Osaka, Japan. She attended Canadian Academy in Japan, and she earned degrees in education from Wittenberg University, Springfield, Ohio, and National College of Education, Evanston, Ill. Wittenberg is a college of the ELCA.
Marshall taught classes at Ashland High School, Ashland, Ohio, and elementary schools of Bellwood, Ill. She received an honorary doctor of laws degree from Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kan., another ELCA college.
Marshall served on the boards of the Seafarers and International House, New York, and Wittenberg University. She was a member of the League of Women Voters, Chi Omega Sorority and Women of the ELCA. She was an officer of the Guild of Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago.
A memorial service will be held Nov. 13 at Augustana Lutheran Church in Chicago. Alice Marshall is survived by her husband; a son, Robert E. Marshall; a daughter, Peggy Niederer; a brother, Edward Hepner, and six grandchildren.
For information contact:
Frank Imhoff, Assoc. Director (773) 380-2955 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html
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About the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:
The ELCA is one of the largest Christian denominations in the United States, with 2.8 million members in more than 8,500 worshiping communities across the 50 states and in the Caribbean region. Known as the church of "God's work. Our hands.," the ELCA emphasizes the saving grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, unity among Christians and service in the world. The ELCA's roots are in the writings of the German church reformer Martin Luther.
For information contact:
Candice Hill Buchbinder
Public Relations Manager
Candice.HillBuchbinder@ELCA.org
