Hugh Key Marshall

Hugh K. Marshall of Atlanta passed away Thursday at the age of 96. Born and reared in South Georgia, he traveled its railroads, hunted and fished its fields and streams, and was valedictorian of the Cordele High School class of 1933. After a cross-country trip with friends in a Model-T, and a visit to the Chicago World’s Fair, he came to Atlanta in his late teens to study architecture at Georgia Tech.

He took his degree in 1938, and as war approached he enlisted as an officer in the U.S. Army. While serving at Lawson General Hospital he met Virginia Alexander; they married in 1942 and settled in the Buckhead area to raise a family. After WWII Mr. Marshall was active in the Army Reserve; in 1966 he retired as a lieutenant colonel commanding the 358th Medical Battalion.

He worked as an architect for several companies, and in the late 1950s he launched his own firm with offices on Peachtree. Its work stands today in schools, churches, banks, shopping centers, fire stations, and housing across the state — the infrastructure of everyday life for generations of Georgians. He wound up his architectural career in project-oversight roles at two U.S. agencies, the Dept. of Health, Education, and Welfare and the Dept. of Housing and Urban Development, retiring from the latter in 1983.

Widowed in 1988, he remarried in 1991 and enjoyed 19 happy years with Inez Ramsay Marshall. He spent the last years of his life among treasured friends at the Renaissance on Peachtree.

Mr. Marshall was an active member of Peachtree Road United Methodist Church, founding the Friendship Class, chairing the adult Sunday school department, serving on numerous committees, and attending Sunday services until the last months of life. He was a local officer of the Reserve Officers Association and the Atlanta Institute of Architects, and later a regular and poet-in-residence at “Old Curmudgeons” gatherings of retired architects. He also served as founding president of the Atlanta Savoyards, a Gilbert-and-Sullivan troupe. He was a Georgia Tech Ramblin’ Wreck to the core, and in his later years was often the oldest in attendance at a Tech homecoming or Old Gold reunion.

The Marshall children were used to hearing their father described by others as a kind, generous, and intelligent man; they knew him as that, and also as a gentle and loving father. He possessed a rare combination of artistry and technical skill — a man who recited Shakespeare and designed modernist buildings. In 1956 he built a house on Old Ivy Road, where he lived most of his life, and where he imbued his family with his love of language and learning.

Hugh Key Marshall was born on December 31, 1916, in Cordele. He was the youngest child and only son of Walter Hubert Marshall, a railroad express manager, and Bessie Walters Marshall.

He is survived by children Hubert K. Marshall Helaine of White Plains NY; Nancy M. Floyd Jim of Atlanta; Steven A. Marshall Holly of Marietta; and David J. Marshall Stacy of Washington DC; brother John T. Marshall Kay of Atlanta; grandchildren Michael D. Floyd Ashley of Atlanta; Katherine A. Marshall of New York; and Gregory A. Marshall of New York; and three great-grandchildren: Lily, Hugh, and Jessica Floyd of Atlanta.

Mr. Marshall was pre-deceased by spouses Virginia Alexander Marshall and Inez Ramsay Marshall; sisters Maud Evelyn Marshall, Eleanor M. Barwick, and Virginia M. Bolton; and grandson Christopher S. Floyd.

A memorial service is scheduled for Monday, August 12, at 2:00 p.m. at Peachtree Road United Methodist Church, with a reception to follow. In lieu of flowers, please consider a contribution to the Don and Mary Ellen Harp Youth Building, Peachtree Road United Methodist Church, 3180 Peachtree Road NW, Atlanta, GA 30305.