David D. Marsh

AUBURN — David D. Marsh, 85, of Auburn, passed away on June 20 at the Hospice House in Auburn, following a brief period of declining health.

He was born in Lewiston on October 9, 1931, the fourth child of Howard Marsh and Ruth (Coburn) Marsh. Growing up on their small family farm on Park Avenue laid the foundation for David’s lifelong respect and appreciation for nature.

He attended Auburn schools and, following high school, served four years in the U.S. Air Force, where he learned to fly a T-6 trainer in the skies over west Texas.

In 1957, he married Mona (Knowlton) Marsh and together they raised six children. He worked as a mason at Shawnee Step for over 30 years, supporting his growing family with the labor of his hands.

David led by quiet example and cared little for gathering possessions or achieving social status. Books were his most valued treasures. Every room in his home held overstuffed bookshelves. Every tabletop and every corner was embellished with books. He read “War and Peace” twice in his lifetime. He demonstrated that humble simplicity was the secret to happiness.

When Mona passed in 2004, he stoically moved on with his life. He liked his own company and found comfort and pleasure in his daily walk and was never more content than when he was sitting on his front porch, sun on his face, a coffee mug in one hand and a book on his lap, listening to a tinny radio play classical music.

Solitude sustained him. His children and grandchildren fortified him. On any given Sunday, his home was the family gathering place.

In his final years, David was fortunate enough to find love again with his friend, Jeanne, with whom he shared many adventures and misadventures, and always with laughter.

If you were blessed to receive one of his gruff and awkward hugs, you know he was a man who loved deeply.

David is survived by his six children, Karen Albert, Paula LaRoche and husband, Larry, Kimberly Marsh, Patti Marsh and partner, Chris Flynn, David Marsh Jr. and wife, Linda, and Steven Marsh and partner, Julie Wallace; nine grandchildren; eight great-grandchildren (one more soon to be born); and sisters, Ruth Ireland and Connie Brann and husband, James.

He was predeceased by his parents; his wife, Mona; sisters, Elinor (Jean) Eggert and Janice Fischer; and granddaughter, Beth LaRoche.