Surnames: Marsh, Anderson, Bartholomew, Behrens, Davis, Brown, Groenke

----Source: Colby Phonograph (Colby, Clark County, Wis.) 06/18/1953

Marsh, Mr./Mrs. (50th Anniv. - 20 June 1953)

Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Marsh will observe their golden wedding anniversary with open house at their home for friends and relatives Saturday, June 20th, from 6:00 to 9:00 o’clock in the evening. Mrs. Sterling Anderson and Miss Flora Bartholomew of Wausau will entertain with soprano solos at the open house. A dinner for relatives will be given at the Methodist church dining room. All but one of the attendants at the wedding will attend the dinner. The attendants were Miss Florence Marsh of New York, maid of honor and sister of the groom; Mrs. Herman Behrens of Cherokee, sister of the bride, bridesmaid; Stephen Davis of Neenah, brother of the bride, best man; Frank Davis, deceased brother of the bride.

Raymond Marsh was born south of Colby on a farm in the vicinity of what was then known as Marsh’s Corners, there being five Marsh families living there at that particular time. Mr. Marsh is employed as B and B foreman of the Ashland division of the Soo Line. He plans to retire some time this summer after 42 years of service. Mr. Marsh helped in the work of the Presbyterian church at Riverside and served on the official board of the Methodist church in Colby, Wis.

Mrs. Marsh, the former Adella Davis, was born in Kingston, Wis., and moved to Colby with her parents at an early age when oxen were used as the means of transportation and work. Horses were a rarity. She taught in the rural schools for five years previous to her marriage as well as Sunday school in the Presbyterian church at Riverside and at the Methodist church in Colby, Wis. She was the president of the Ladies’ Aid at the time the congregation was planning to build a new church. She had charge of the junior class of the Sunday school and built it into a junior department having a class for each junior year from ages 9 to 12 and also served on the official board. She had charge of the knitting committee during World War I, was oracle of the local organization of the Royal Neighbors of America and organized the juvenile department, was vice president of the Girl’s 4-H Club in the early days of that society, was president of the Women’s Relief Corps for a time, president of the Mothers Club of the Colby Graded School for two years and was president of the P.T.A. at the Colby High School the year the band was added to the curriculum.

The couple was married on June 17, 1903, at home near Cherokee by Rev. Joseph Brown, now deceased. They moved to Colby from north of Cherokee in 1912.

They have two children, Norman and Viola, both of Colby, Wis. There is one grand child, Joan Groenke, and two great grand children, Eric and Kathleen Groenke, of Racine.

A picture of Mr. and Mrs. Marsh is printed on the last page of this paper.