John James Marshall

John James Marshall

August 6, 1942 – September 4, 2021

“And Flights of Angels Sing Thee to Thy Rest”

“Nick Charles” quoting Hamlet (The Thin Man, 1934)

John was born, two months premature, in Chicago, Illinois on August 6, 1942, while World War II was raging around the globe. Even then, John was a fighter and survived his first two months in an incubator during those tumultuous and medically primitive times. He was the first of three children born to James Orvis Marshall and Lucille Copper Marshall of Chesterton, Indiana. His sister Marilyn Ruland (Edwin, deceased) followed a year later in October 1943, and his brother Jeremy (who predeceased him) (Phyllis) came to the family in 1946. John and his siblings enjoyed an idealized childhood in middle America during the late 1940’s and early 1950’s. He was a bright and inquisitive child and enjoyed the many pleasures of smalltown America through those post-war years. While still in grade school, John learned to play the cornet and trumpet. He was a quick study, and became a fine musician. He was often asked to perform publicly and frequently played "Taps" at military funerals for Korean war veterans. One of his favorite solo pieces was "Vesti La Giuba" from Pagliacci. A proud moment came when John was invited to play the trumpet solo from the "Triumphal March of Aida" in the Pageant for the Chesterton Town Centennial. By 1954, his father, chasing an impossible and impractical dream of wealth, uprooted his family to the little hamlet of Elk Mountain, Wyoming to pursue a get-rich-quick scheme that did not pan out. They spent a hardscrabble, cold and uncomfortable winter there. Finally, in the Spring, Lucille relocated to Laramie, Wyoming and got a secretarial job at the local university. She was able, finally, to buy a house and bring her family to Laramie, where they resettled for several years. Eventually, John became restless and disaffected with small town life, and began longing for a more fulfilling life. He turned his eye toward this goal, and by age 16, his was on his own.

He relocated to Denver, Colorado and worked various odd jobs, until he turned 18 and enlisted in the United States Air Force in January 1961. Meanwhile, a short-lived teenaged marriage came and went. He had his basic training in Biloxi, Mississippi, where he witnessed, first hand, the banality and brutality of racism in the Deep South. He was deeply affected by this, and for the rest of his life he fought against the injustices to all people who were impacted by the harsh cruelties inflicted on them by prejudice and bigotry. He was eventually stationed at Vandenberg Air Force Base in Southern California, and at last felt he had found his Promised Land. He enjoyed the easy camaraderie of his Air Force buddies and witnessing missile launches. He ran the motor pool and dispatched vehicles assigned to officers. He also landed a job off-base working in a commissary with a group of Japanese ladies, who all adored him, since he was so kind to them and he enjoyed learning to speak Japanese with them.

At Vandenberg, he set his sights on “the prettiest girl on the base,” Marie Elena Aguon. They married and, when John was honorably discharged from the Air Force in 1965, they moved to San Francisco to be near Marie’s family. Two sons came along in due time, John Jr. (Frederick, Md.) and Anthony (New York City) (Jennifer, and beautiful granddaughter Cleo). John found several interesting jobs in and around San Francisco, including guarding a Nike Missile site in Marin County and tending bar in various neighborhoods where his natural friendly and easy-going attitude and genuine enjoyment of the bar patrons made him a favorite among the many habitués of these little pocket “neighborhoods.” John and some friends eventually bought a neighborhood bar of their own. He passed the DMV exam for a Class-1 driver’s license, making him eligible to drive big rig trucks as a union-member teamster. He worked with several different companies and he came to enjoy the freedom of being on the go without having to go too far. By 1969, he and Marie came to understand that their life together was coming to an end, and although he was torn up about leaving his young sons, they made the painful decision to divorce.

In late summer 1970, John was again working two jobs, teamster by day and starting a new nighttime job as a bartender at a hot spot called “Dizzy’s” in San Francisco. It was there his good friend Ellis Westphal introduced him to the new cocktail waitress, Veronica (Ronnie) Del Genovese, a transplanted New Yorker, also trying out a second job for herself, in addition to being a legal secretary at a prestigious downtown San Francisco law firm. Sparks did indeed fly, and John and Ronnie fell in love over the next few months and were married on September 18, 1971. John and Ronnie spent the next 50 years madly in love, through good times and bad, and made a wonderful life for themselves in San Francisco. John had a tender heart for all animals and, right before they married, he convinced the skeptical Ronnie to bring home an abandoned little stray kitty they found one rainy night near the cable car tracks. Over all their years together, they loved and enjoyed the antics of many wonderful kitties, giving them all a safe and happy home. By the mid-1970’s, John bought a San Francisco Marina district bar called “Danny’s,” which he turned into the best neighborhood bar around, attracting white collars and blue collars, highbrows and low, bikers and newspaper delivery guys, cops and firemen, charming young ladies and those who’d “been around the block” a few times, and just about everyone in between. Years later, while living in So. San Francisco, John bought another bar in nearby Millbrae, called “My Brother’s Place” and successfully turned it into the same kind of great bar, with the same success, as “Danny’s.”

John visited Ronnie’s home town of New York for the first time in 1979, and fell instantly in love with the city and everything about it. He loved Broadway and live theatre, and on every annual visit to NYC they enjoyed Broadway shows, cabaret, Radio City Music Hall and Off-Broadway shows. Fine dining was a big part of the fun as well. John enjoyed many of the local pubs in midtown Manhattan, where his easy and friendly manner truly charmed many crusty old New Yorkers, many of whom looked forward to John’s annual visits. In 1996, for their 25th anniversary, John and Ronnie went to New York and renewed their vows in “The Little Church Around the Corner,” a fabled church sitting in the shadow of the Empire State Building, and a favorite among the denizens of Old Broadway. John was also embraced by Ronnie’s mom (Frances, deceased) and sister Susan, both of whom loved him very much. Many new friends were made through those wonderful years visiting New York, and John got to enjoy his passion for photography by taking hundreds of pictures all around the City. John and Ronnie also enjoyed travelling to Hawaii, Maui in particular, and went as often as they could. Monterey and Carmel, California were also special and magical places for both of them, and it was rejuvenating and refreshing to spend weekends there, along the rugged and spectacular coast, where John also enjoyed photographing the natural beauty of the area. John and Ronnie discovered Palm Springs in the early 1980’s and fell in love with the desert, and moved to Palm Desert when they retired. He still enjoyed photography and took beautiful photos of the desert in all its glory.

In the end, John told his wife and sister that he’d had a wonderful life with his beloved wife Ronnie and her family, and his own beloved sister Marilyn. He loved his sons and was happy to be close with Anthony and his family. His passing has left all his family and his many friends bereft and saddened. But he will be remembered and loved forever by Ronnie, Marilyn, Susan and Anthony, and all those who knew him well, and recognized what a beautiful soul he was and always will be. Vaya con Dios, our darling Johnny.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.tridentsociety.com/location/rancho-mirage-cremation for the Marshall family.