Forest Marshall Foley, Jr.

(1946-2016)

Forest Marshall Foley, Jr. of Widefield, passed away on July 11, 2016 at the age of 70 while hospitalized at Penrose-St. Francis Hospital in Colorado Springs. Marshall put up a valiant fight against both brain cancer and pneumonia. Just an hour after being admitted to hospice care, he lost those battles.

Marshall, the name he went by since his childhood, lived a long and fulfilled life and touched many along that path. He was born in Bluefield, West Virginia to Forest Marshall and Mary Violette Phalen Foley on June 16, 1946. He went to Matoaka High School and then on to a short matriculation at University of West Virginia before entering the US Air Force in 1966. He served his country through one tour in Vietnam before returning home to marry his high school sweetheart, Melva Cheryl Russell, on October 18,1969. He worked as an electronic communication cryptographic technician in the US Air Force for 21 years – bringing him to Virginia, Maryland, Greece, Germany, New York, traveling alongside several US presidents, and ultimately to Colorado. He retired in 1987 from the military, and worked for the next 21 years in the defense field – retiring from the Raytheon Company in 2008.

Marshall’s life was marked by constant activity and fervent passion. He was active in the Veterans of Foreign Wars,TREA: The Enlisted Association, his high school alumni group, and heavily involved in Boy Scouts of America. Marshall served as a scoutmaster of Troop 39 in Fountain, Colorado for 18 years – during which he mentored 34 different young men to the rank of Eagle Scout – an accomplishment that brought him great joy. He loved donning orange to cheer on the Denver Broncos, and in recent years, he enjoyed restoring his beloved 1969 Chevrolet Camaro to its original beauty,

Help us celebrate his full life. Visitation will be held from 6:00pm until 8:00pm on Monday, July 18. Funeral services will be held at 10:00am on Tuesday, July 19. Both memorials will be held at Dove-Witt Family Mortuary, 6630 South US Highway 85-87, Fountain, CO 80817. A lunch reception will follow at the VFW Post 6461 in Fountain. Marshall will be interred at Fort Logan National Cemetery in Denver, and a private graveside ceremony for the family will be arranged at a later date.

Marshall was preceded in death by his parents Forest Marshall Foley and Mary Violette Phalen; and four half-sisters, Reva Darrah Foley Harrison, Pauline Virginia Foley McBride, Christina Foley Dillon, and Crystal Inez Foley Williams.

Marshall is survived by his wife, Melva Cheryl Russell Foley; daughter Karen Michelle Foley Collins, her husband Christopher Scott Collins and family friend Stacy Montes; son Brian Marshall Foley; son Robert Alan Foley and his partner Arman Lorz; son Mark Edward Foley; brother Charles Alfred Foley; half-bother Bernard Foley and his wife Glenda; and three grandchildren, David Landis Collins, Kestrel Elizabeth Collins, and Kaitlyn Paige Foley.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Marshall’s name may be made to the Pikes Peak Council, Boy Scouts of America; the American Brain Tumor Association; or VFW Post 6461.

The family of Marshall Foley wishes to extend our sincere thanks to all of our family and friends that helped to make his life extraordinary and to the staff of Penrose Hospital and Pikes Peak Hospice that made his passing peaceful.