Marianne Lipscombe Marshall was born in Seattle, Wash., to Jack Wilfred Lipscombe and Betty Jo Howard Lipscombe. Marianne grew up in the oil fields of southern New Mexico and west Texas and graduated from Big Spring High School. Marianne earned a double major in philosophy and sociology from Newcomb College at Tulane University in New Orleans and a JD from St. Mary’s University Law School in San Antonio, where she met her husband and the love of her life, Steven D. Marshall, son of Dr. Carlton and Cynthia Marshall.
Marianne served as Caldwell County Attorney in Texas; Deputy State’s Attorney for Franklin County, Vt., and as a partner in Marshall and Marshall Legal Services in Swanton, Vt. She was honored for being one of the first 100 women admitted to practice law in the state of Vermont.
In addition to her husband, Marianne is survived by her children, Cynthia (Craig) Wilems of Seabrook, Texas; George (L. Gayle) Marshall of Corinth, Texas; Mary (Samuel) Carleton of Winooski, Vt.; and Kathryn (Ryan) Baxter of Lunenburg, Vt.; her grandchildren Anabella, Grace and Emmaline Wilems, Nolan, Alaina and Susanna Marshall, Adele and Louise Carleton, and Hawkeye Baxter. She is also survived by her brother, John Howard Lipscombe (Jan), retired Texas County Court at Law Judge of Austin, Texas; sister Dr. Elizabeth Lipscombe Ritchie, pediatric surgeon, of Boerne, Texas; and several nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her parents and brother William C. Lipscombe, U.S. Coast Guard retiree, who suffered from untreated PTSD after serving on the front lines in the war on drugs in South America and the Mediterranean.
Marianne was active in the community and for many years served on the Franklin County United Way and the Rock Point School Boards. She was a fifth- and sixth-grade volunteer staff and was active in the Swanton School parent volunteers and the Holy Trinity Episcopal Sunday School. She also served as past president of the Franklin County Bar Association, as the Swanton Town Justice of the Peace and was a Vermont Community College philosophy teacher (Introduction and Social and Political Ethics).
In more recent years, Marianne enjoyed painting with watercolors and showing her work at the Artist in Residence Gallery in St. Albans.
Belief: if it’s about God, it’s about love; share God’s light. Her kids say, “Mama was always finding ways to bring people together to share joy, love and build community.”
Thanks to Dr. Adrian Trout, Dr. Brophy, Dr. S. Foster, oncologist Dr. Dennis Sanders, the folks at ER Northwest Medical Center and Alexis at Bayada Hospice.
A celebration of life service will be held at 11 a.m., Monday, April 10, 2023, at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, in Swanton, Vt. The service will be live-streamed at the following Zoom link: us02web.zoom.us/j/89706734361?pwd=bXFoVHFnU1NITVlpdFhHRnA5UFdrdz09.
This article appears in Apr 5-11, 2023.