of Rupert, AR

January 1, 1926 - October 7, 2023

Marie Russell Marsh Godfrey died after a brief illness on Saturday, October 7, 2023 in Salem, Arkansas. She was 97. Born in Rupert, Arkansas on January 1, 1926, she first left 'the mountain" in the 8th grade when she was picked to join her local youth choir on a field trip to Chicago where they performed on the Moody Bible Institute's radio program.

After Marie completed her final year of high school in Branson, Missouri, she was eager to join the war effort. She tried to enlist in the military but was rejected for being underage. Never one to accept limitations, she returned to Arkansas and signed on at an ordinance plant in Jacksonville where she built bomb components. After the war, she moved to San Antonio, Texas and joined the civilian workforce at Lackland Air Force Base. Her boss shortened her last name to Rusty, bestowing a nickname that co-workers, friends and even some family members would use for the remainder of her life. Lackland AFB is also where she met her first husband, William Robert Marsh. They subsequently moved to his home state of Nebraska where they both enrolled at what is now the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

While attending college and working several jobs to help put her husband through medical school, Marie founded and operated a nursery school for working and GI families. The school burned down but she continued to make her mark by joining a panel of women in post WWII Lincoln to help write standards for licensing child caregivers, operating nursery schools and educating young children - guidelines that remained Nebraska state standards for decades. Marie and her first husband had four children together. They divorced in the early 1970s.

In 1980, Marie's childhood sweetheart, JE Godfrey, tracked her down. The spark remained. The couple quickly married and moved into his house in Alread, Arkansas - a home with a clear view of the homestead where Marie had been born and raised. She became a mother to JE's three children. The couple remained devoted to each other for the remainder of their lives. They would eventually move to Salem, Arkansas to be closer to their grown children.

Marie is preceded in death by her beloved husband, JE Godfrey; her parents, Benjamin and Lillie Russell and her four siblings, Becky, Tess, Roy and Don. She is survived by her children, Patricia Marsh Cavanaugh (Charley), Renee Godfrey Crowl (Leroy), Wren M. Allen (Larry), Robert Marsh (Jamie), Samantha Lemings, Rauchaun Godfrey (Monica) and Michael Godfrey. Marie is also survived by her 9 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.

A graveside service will be held at 11 am on Thursday, October 12 at the Pleasant Grove Cemetery in Rupert, Arkansas. Memorial donations may be sent to a charity Marie and JE supported, the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. The family wishes to thank Marie's doctor and former son-in-law, Dr. Griffin Arnold, for his years of exemplary care and support and Mrs. Margaret (Margorzata) Lanko for her kind and unwavering care of our mother during her final year.

The family would also like to acknowledge and thank daughter, Renee, for supplying a home Marie and JE could call their own during their final years. And finally, the family would especially like to acknowledge and thank son, Rauchaun, his wife, Monica and their children for providing the constant and loving care that allowed Marie and JE to live out their final years independently and on their own terms.

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