Harvey Lawrence Marshall

On April 12, 2022, our father/step-father went to Heaven. Harvey Lawrence (Boe) Marshall (Sr.) was born on February 24, 1942 in Durham, Guilford County, N.C. and passed away at the Tampa VA Hospice at 80 years of age. He is preceded in death by his parents Harvey Elmer (Boe) Marshall and Ella Mae Anderson, ex-wife Shelby Johnson, ex-wife Peggy Lou Sein Smith Wheeler, wife Judy Morris-Marshall, and stepson Louis Earl Smith. Dad leaves behind step-children Wendi Lou Smith, Vala Smith Bennett (Dan), and Robert Smith and children Harvey Lawrence (Boe) Marshall, Jr. and Ward Marshall (Anita). Dad took wonderful care of both of his parents before their passing. He was a practicing Christian and did not hesitate to help a friend in need.

Big Boe graduated Bessemer High School, Greensboro in 1960 as Best Dressed with Patsy Routh and Most Talented with Annette Buchanan; he was involved in football, track, tumbling, the Men's Club, the 4-H Club (President Jr./Sr.), bus driving, and Key Club. He worked more than 40 years in the concrete/construction business. Dad was drafted and proudly serviced with honor with MCB 74 (Mobile Construction Battalion - Navy Seabees) from 1966-1968, including a tour of duty around Phu Loc and Da Nang, Vietnam, where he wore the rank of Petty Officer Second Class (E-5).

Dad was a hard worker and conscientious saver, was loved by family and friends, and never met a stranger, with his genuine North Carolinian hospitality. He was a top-notch, popular, affable dancer, from performing on TV as a child, to taking and giving many lessons, to participating in many wonderful events with the Tampa Bay Beach Boppers. His dance card remained full then and will do so in our memories forever. Pop was really funny, and he loved practical jokes or showing off his goofy underwear (in public!).

On the importance of friendship… It is. While at the VA during his last week with us when things were tough, a surprise package arrived in the mail: L.C. "Sonny" Smith (affectionately known as Schmitty), a dear fellow Seabee from North Carolina, fellow concrete expert, and lifelong friend, sent a small metal sign discussing Seabee negotiating skills and a bag of Caramel Creams candy; the hospital staff laughed out loud when they read the sign, especially when it came time to discuss their tardiness in morphine delivery! In the 60's, when Dad and Sonny had to drive across the U.S. to different Navy bases for training and duty before and after Vietnam, they would do it together, and the Caramel Creams were mandatory traveling fuel. My dad just could not believe the thoughtfulness of Schmitty's gift, and he wept in gratitude: this is a not-so-subtle reminder of how much my father was loved, and this stands as a new high-bar in caring about another human being.

The family shares a sincere thank you to dear friends, family, and VA staff who helped this kindhearted man have the best possible life. As a dear friend said upon hearing the news of Dad's passing, "he was a gentleman of the old times," and he will be missed by all.

A service with an Honor Guard will be held at the Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell (Veterans' Cemetery) on May 6, 2022 at 10 AM sharp (6502 SW 102nd Ave, Bushnell, FL 33513-8914). Please arrive no later than 9:45 AM (guard at front gate will organize and direct us), and the service will be completed by 10:30 AM; there will be no viewing. Dress as formal as you please. The family will be having lunch at El Sol de Mexico (31077 Cortez Blvd, Brooksville, FL 34602) at roughly 11 AM, and all are invited. Instead of flowers, the family requests that you do an unexpected and unsolicited kindness for someone in our father's name.