In Memory of Harry Marsh May 12, 2021
Posted by Mia Moody-Ramirez in : Uncategorized , trackbackBy David McHam
Harry Marsh, Ph.D. was a very special person and one of the best people I had the opportunity to work with during my career.
He joined the Baylor journalism faculty in the 1960s and with Dave Chevens, Reba Campbell, Mike Stricklin and Ed Kelton helped make Baylor journalism one of the best programs in the nation.
No one brought the kind of experience that Harry had. After graduating from Baylor, he worked, among other places, for the legendary Hodding Carter in Greenville, Mississippi.
He attended graduate school for journalism at Columbia and worked at both the New York Herald Tribune and The Daily News.
While at Baylor, he got his Ph.D. at the University of Texas. He and I worked together writing headlines at The Waco News-Tribune.
Marsh was a terrific teacher who left his mark on every student he met.
The words below are his obituary and how he wanted his life to be celebrated.
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Harry Dean Marsh, Ph.D., died at the family home in Gallatin, Tennessee, April 4, 2021, age 93.
Marsh spent his childhood in the Big Bend desert of West Texas, born in the adobe parsonage of the Marfa Baptist Church and baptized by his father in Comanche Springs, Fort Stockton.
He earned university degrees from Baylor, Columbia and Texas at Austin. He served as a U.S. Army Signal Corps technician in West Germany during the Korean War.
Marsh pursued a career in journalism for 50 years. He reported, photographed and edited on newspaper staffs for 17 years, first on two small Texas papers, the Hillsboro Mirror and the Andrews County News, then on The Delta Democrat-Times at Greenville, Mississippi and the Birmingham News, and finally on two New York City papers, the Herald Tribune and the Daily News.
For the remainder of his career, he taught journalism at universities – Baylor, Arkansas and Kansas State, heading the departments at the latter two. He published books, monographs and articles in the field of mass communication. Immediately after retirement he taught part time at the University of North Carolina in Asheville.
Marsh said that the best thing he ever did was marry Ellie Bruton of Fayetteville, North Carolina. Their two children and spouses are William and Jennifer Marsh of Leesburg, Virginia, and Marti and Jason Kastner of Gallatin. They have four grandchildren: Isabelle, Daniel, Ellie and Josie.
Marsh volunteered at Sumner Regional Medical Center for ten years. He has been active in the Sumner County Democratic Party, serving as an assistant chairman, and he has been a trustee of First Presbyterian Church. He described the church as a loving fellowship supporting his faith and hope. As a continuation of his journalistic activity, he has submitted and had published about 50 letters to the editor in recent years.
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