Dr. John F. "Pops" Marshall

On July 22, 2023, Dr. John F. “Pops” Marshall, M.D., of Green Cove Springs, Florida, passed away peacefully in his sleep.  Early that morning, a waxing crescent moon quietly guided him to heaven.

John, the youngest of three children, was born on March 17, 1936, to Frank Bartlet Marshall and Maria Elougia Baca in Borger, Texas, a western oil boom town in the 1920s and 1930s, which according to John was, at that time, very recently cleared of outlaws by the Texas Rangers.  His early jobs, which he held down while in school, included working oil rigs as a roughneck in Texas in the 1950s to earn money for collage at Utah State University where he initially studied Geology, an “oilman’s education.”  

After many years of hard work, on June 12, 1966, John graduated from the University of Miami School of Medicine and after that, a residency assignment to the Charity Hospital of Louisiana, which he often spoke of very fondly.  He completed his initial training in radiation therapy at the Penrose Cancer Hospital in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he studied under Dr. Juan A. del Regato (who studied at the Insitut Curie in France).  That same year, the FCC lifted its ban on domestic commercial satellites.  After his final year of training at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, he joined the Yale-New Haven Hospital Medical Staff as an Attending Physician in Therapeutic Radiology.  

In 1976, John settled with his family in Ocala, Florida, where he operated and grew the very successful radiation oncology practice “The Community Radiation Therapy Center” of Ocala, Leesburg and Citrus, where he oversaw the “Beam Team” steadfastly and compassionately treat and cure many patients of cancer throughout central Florida.

In 2014, after practicing medicine for many years at Dartmouth University in Vermont and New Hampshire, John fully retired from the practice of medicine and moved to the sleepy river town of Green Cove Springs, Florida, to be near his youngest daughter, Elizabeth Marshall, and his granddaughter, Hannah Marshall.  

John was truly a fanatic of World War II air planes and vintage pullman train cars, having owned several in his lifetime.  During his younger days (the early to mid 80s), John “Big Daddy Warbucks” was famous for flying his B-25 bomber the “Carol Jean” all over central Florida and even “buzzing” the Gator Stadium on November 16, 1985, during a much-heated game with Kentucky.  In 1986, John hung-up his pilot wings by donating the “Carol Jean” to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum, in Washington, D.C.

https://www.si.edu/object/north-american-b-25j-20-nc-tb-25n-mitchell-carol-jean:nasm_A19860003000   

In 1989, John acquired the 1913 Missouri-Kansas and Texas Pullman Heavyweight Business Car # 403, which was used by President Truman (1948) and President Clinton (1996) for their “Whistle Stop” campaigns.  From 1989 to 2014 and while under charter, United States Presidents, Vice-Presidents, Senators and other notables could be found lounging in the Katy Car’s observation room and on the platform.  Many a family holiday and vacation were spent “riding the rails” on the Katy Car.

John was highly curious and sheer grit and unparalleled determination drove all his pursuits.  His passion was refurbishing and restoring his B-25 and his MKT 403, and model railroading which he took great pride in.  To say John was driven would be the understatement of his life:  From buying a busted old B-25, which was in the 1970 movie “Catch-22” starring Orson Welles, from a defunct museum in 1979 to donating it to the Smithsonian in 1986, whatever he did, he was all in.

John was never far from his treasured Scottish Terriers, and Sinclaire, Mary, Katy, Ian, Angus and McTavish are all on the long walk in the stars with him now.  His surviving Scotty, Lord Duncan of Blairadam, Scotland (which, pursuant to a Master Title Deed, is a registered landowner in Cantsdam, Kelty, Fife, Scotland, KY12 OSW), now resides in Atlanta, Georgia, with John’s eldest daughter, Margaret Marshall.

John’s spiritual journey was complicated and therefore hard-won.  As a young person, he was deeply involved in the Mormon Faith.  After many twists and turns, in his final years, he deeply contemplated his faith, and recommitted himself to Christ and attended the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Fleming Island, Florida, regularly and was highly regarded by his church community.

John was predeceased by his beloved son, John D. Marshall, who died unexpectedly on September 9, 2018.

In typical Marshall fashion, there are no formal services planned.  His family plans to spread his ashes, along with the ashes of Sinclaire, Mary, Katy, Ian, Angus and McTavish, at the Ocala Airport where he kept his B-25 and where the ashes of his son were spread 5 years ago.