Virginia Marshall

Virginia Marshall, 85, of Topeka passed away Monday, June 16, following a long illness. She was born February 17, 1929 in Nortonville, Kansas to Claude and Helen (Bushey) Speck. Virginia graduated from Atchison County High School (Effingham) and Washburn University Where she had a science scholarship. At Washburn she was elected to the prestigious NONOSO organization, which recognizes outstanding students in both scholarship and leadership. She was president of the Zeta Tau Alpha sorority. While in Washburn graduate s chool she was an intern at Lattimore-Fink laboratories and worked at Stormont-Vail Hospital.
On November 11, 1951, she married James Marshall at First Presbyterian Church in Topeka, and then moved to Larned, Kansas. Virginia was the first qualified laboratory technician for Larned State Hospital. They later moved back to Topeka where she was employed as a lab technician for doctors Bedford and O’Neil.
After starting a family she was an efficient and loving homemaker and was involved in community, school and church activities. She was PTA president, church school teacher, superintendent and on the governing board of Second Presbyterian Church. Her family credits her as being the “family organizer” who planned family trips, and special activities. She was the family historian and did much genealogy research, particularly in Massachusetts, where her Balch grandfather was one of the first settlers and has the oldest existing house in the United States. Besides spending time with her family, Virginia loved camping, photography, classical music and traveling to various places in the United States, Canada and Europe. Virginia was a longtime member of Second Presbyterian Church, Zeta Alumni Association, Balch Foundation, and Daughters of the American Revolution.
She was preceded in death by her parents, and did daily caretaking of them for years, and her sister Geraldine Lloyd Bassett. She is survived by her husband Jim, sons; Marc (Janey) and Keith and daughters; Susan (Frank) and Laurie (Joe), and seven grandchildren.

Visitation will be held at Davidson Funeral Home on Sunday, June 29 from 2-4 p.m. Funeral services will be Monday, June 30, at the Second Presbyterian Church, at 10:30 a.m. Burial will follow at Round Mound Cemetery in Cummings, Kansas at 2 p.m.
The family offers special thanks for her years of care to Topeka Homestead, Grace Hospice and to Davidson Funeral Home for their kind support and handling of arrangements. Memorial contributions may be made to Second Presbyterian Church, 210 Menninger Road, Topeka, KS 66617 or to the Parkinson Foundation. To leave a message for the family please visit www.davidsonfuneral.com