Edna Erle Waters Marshall

Edna Erle Marshall

Tupelo- A gracious proponent of Southern culture, Edna Erle "Edee" Waters Marshall, 86, died at Traceway Manor, Friday, August 4, 2006, after a short illness. She was preceded in death by her husband, Sam P. Marshall, Jr.

Mrs. Marshall was born October 12, 1919, in Baldwyn, Mississippi, the daughter of Boyce Waters and Maude Landon Frost Waters. Mrs. Marshall began a life-long affair with Tupelo when she moved there as a child. Although she and her husband, an executive with International Minerals and Chemicals, moved to many different states during his career, Mrs. Marshall always considered Tupelo "home." They lived there during the late 1940's, late 1950's and returned to Tupelo permanently in 1994.

A magna cum laude graduate of Tupelo High School, Mrs. Marshall pursued her life-long love of classical languages at Mississippi State College for Women, excelling in Latin. She was honored her senior year as Most Intellectual, President of Star and Sceptre, President of Lantern and Torch, Vice-president of the YWCA, President of Eta Sigma Phi, and a member of the President's Council. Her college years were filled with may extracurricular activities, but none were more important than her commitment to the YWCA and its Christian principles. In 1941, she was inducted into the Hall of Fame with this quote, "And so, Edna Erle we invite you into our Hall of Fame, proud that it's you - one who had the strength of her convictions, the courage to see them through; one whose sanity and goodness is cut in marble at MSCW and will be felt in the world."

Mrs. Marshall met her husband at the Blue Ridge YWCA Summer Conference in Black Mountain, North Carolina, in 1940 prior to her senior year. She and Lt. Marshall married Christmas Day 1941 while he was serving in the Army at Williamsburg, Virginia, training troops for the European theatre. After the end of World War II, the Marshalls returned to Tupelo. Her husband's career with International Minerals and Chemicals Corporation moved them to Buffalo, NY; Montgomery, AL; Arlington, TX, and Lakeland, FL.

While in Lakeland, she and her husband served as good will ambassadors of Southern hospitality for countless international guests who were in training with his company. At his retirement, the government of Japan hosted the Marshalls in appreciation for the gracious hospitality shown to so many of their citizens.

A lifelong Presbyterian, Mrs. Marshall served in many positions in the church, most often as program chairperson for the Women of the Church. A member of many literary organizations, she excelled in giving in-depth book reviews. She gave to her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren a life-long love of Literature.

Mrs. Marshall is survived by her children, Kathryn Marshall Arnold, an interior designer for the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation; the Rev. Sam P. Marshall III, Interim General Presbyter for the presbytery of Western North Caroline and his wife, Cecilia Miller Marshall of Oxford, MS.; and her sister, Carolyn Moore and husband, William, of Tupelo, MS.

Her grandchildren are Allison Arnold Sampson, an adjunct professor of social work at Virginia Commonwealth University; Anne Preston Marshall Lewis, a nurse in Oxford, MS; and Hallie Landon Marshall, a senior in the Honors College at the University of Mississippi. Her great-grandchildren are Brittany Dawkins, Ida and Kathryn Sampson of Suffolk, VA.

The family will receive visitors at First Presbyterian Church at 10:00 a.m. Tuesday, August 8, followed by a Witness to the Resurrection at 11:00 a.m. at the Church. W.E. Pegues Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. Memorials may be given to First Presbyterian Church of Tupelo.