She was born on March 14, 1928 in Poughkeepsie, New York, daughter of Archibald MacKennan and Jane Neely MacKennan. She was the eldest of three siblings, with her younger brother, Robert Archibald MacKennan and sister, Lois MacKennan Earle.
She graduated from State Teachers College at New Paltz (New York) with a Bachelor of Science, majoring in Elementary Education in 1949.
She married Thomas Matthew Marshall, of Shelbyville Kentucky, following his graduation from Princeton in 1951, and commissioning as a Second Lieutenant in the Marine Corps. After he returned from the Korean Conflict, he enrolled in Harvard Law School and they moved to Arlington, Massachusetts, with their sons, Thomas Matthew Marshall, Jr, born 1952, and David West Marshall, born 1954. Robert John Marshall was born in 1956 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Upon graduation from law school, the family moved to Poughkeepsie, New York, where Peter Bruce Marshall was born in 1958.
The family moved to Westfield, New Jersey, in 1959. There, Jean became very active in the community, chairing organizations such as the Newcomers’ Club in 1961, Visiting Homemakers from 1963 – 1968, and acting as president of the Junior League of Elizabeth and Cranford from 1966 – 1968. She also was chair of the board of the YWCA of Westfield, and taught Sunday school at the Presbyterian Church.
When Thomas Marshall launched his own law practice in 1969, she joined his office as office manager and travelled extensively throughout the US and Europe in support of the law office.
Jean and Thomas began vacationing at Sebasco Lodge in Sebasco Estates, Maine in the late 1950s. After two years, they brought their four sons to Maine and purchased a small cottage adjacent to the resort. After a few seasons, Jean assumed the role of Social Director at the resort, coordinating all guest activities during several summer seasons.
Upon their divorce, Jean became owner of the cottage and moved to Sebasco Estates, Maine full time in 1976. Her role at the resort broadened into a full-time position, first as the Reservations Manager for several years, then as Concierge. She was nominated for, and awarded, the Maine Tourism Award in 2001, supported by numerous testimonials from guests whom she had served well. She never really retired from this position, and continued to offer guests a weekly formal tea, using her own silver tea service.
Jean loved to cross-stitch. Her apartment has dozens of examples of the work she did over the years. She also loved to entertain, and over the years sponsored many memorable parties. She loved her children, her grandchildren, and her many friends. The only books she ever read were cookbooks, and many people benefited by enjoying the food prepared based on that reading.
Jean is survived by her sister, Lois MacKennan Earle of Manhattan, Kansas; three of her sons, T. Matthew Marshall, Jr and his wife Catherine Gorman Marshall, of South Windsor, Connecticut, and his daughter, Julia Shipley, of Harpswell, Maine; David West Marshall and his wife Carol Craige Marshall, and their three sons, Jason Craige Marshall and his wife Kelly Coughlin Marshall and their children Miles and Emily, David MacKennan Marshall and his wife Brandy Silver Marshall, and Alex MacNeil Marshall, all of Bath, Maine; Robert John Marshall and his wife Dana Marshall, of Sebasco Estates, Maine, and their sons, Gregory Allen Marshall and his wife Clara Mitchell Marshall and their son Falcon Apollo, of San Francisco, California, Alec James Marshall of Northwood, New Hampshire, and Daniel Joe Marshall and his wife Caitlin Soucy Marshall and their daughters Lydia and Vayda of Merrimack, New Hampshire,; Valerie Thomas Marshall (widow of Peter Bruce Marshall), of Topsham, Maine, and their children, Catherine Marshall Schofield, her husband Gerald Brian Schofield, Jr, and their sons Aidan and Connor, of Brunswick, Maine, Theodore Thomas Marshall and his wife Rachel Miller Marshall, Manchester, Maine, Malcolm Bruce Marshall of Lisbon, Maine and Drew MacKennan Marshall, of Topsham, Maine.
Jean is predeceased by her brother, Robert Archibald MacKennan, her (former) spouse Thomas Matthew Marshall, her son Peter Bruce Marshall, and her grandson Johnathan Bruce Marshall.
There will be a service of remembrance for Jean on Saturday, May 13, 2017, at 11:30, at the North Woolwich Methodist Church, 941 River Road, Woolwich, Maine.
Sebasco Harbor Resort will conduct a memorial celebration of Jean’s life later this summer, at a date and time to be announced later.
In lieu of flowers, please donate to the American Heart Association.
“If I could reach up and hold a star for every time you’ve made me smile, the entire evening sky would be in the palm of my hand.” – from a cross-stitch work made by Jean in 2001.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
