Father Albert Wayne Marshall, SDB, for the last twelve years of his life, was a resident of Mercy Care Center, Oakland, CA. He gave up his soul to the Lord on Friday, May 16, 1997. He was 58 years old, and 39 of those years was spent as a Salesian of Don Bosco and 28 as a Salesian priest.
He was the son of Elsie Dolores Barcells of Capitola, CA, and the late Albert Joseph Marshall. He first came in contact with the Salesians as a child when the Salesians had their theologate in Aptos, CA. He joined the Salesians in 1957 and did his minor seminary studies at Don Bosco College, Newton, NJ. He was ordained on May 24, 1969, at the Valley Church in Watsonville, CA.
As a Salesian, his life was dedicated to serving youth, especially the disadvantaged and those at-risk. His work was primarily as a teacher, religion and campus minister and school administrator.
He became vice-principal of Salesian High School (East Los Angeles, CA) in 1969. Three years later he became principal. In 1979 he took over the task of campus minister at St. John Bosco High School (Bellflower, CA) and later director of religious activities at Salesian High School (Richmond, CA).
In 1983 he was taking courses at USC in Los Angeles while residing at Salesian High School in East Los Angeles. It was during this time (1983) that something was obviously affecting his eyesight and behavior. Medical tests discovered a large nonmalignant tumor growing on his brain. It was operable and the prognosis was good for recovery. However, it was not to be. For reasons still unclear, Fr. Al never recovered his full capabilities and was severely handicapped in managing the daily affairs of his life.
After he recovered from his surgery he retired for a time to St. Francis School in Watsonville. However, it became evident that he needed special 24-hour care, and in 1985 he moved to Mercy Care Center in Oakland where he received the loving care of the Sisters of Mercy.
He is remembered as a loving priest, sensitive to the needs and wants of others, both confreres and the young. He had a wonderful sense of humor and was fondly the subject of many jokes which he enjoyed as much as anyone. He had a flair for the dramatic, and his productions in college, and afterward, are legendary. He was an amateur magician and was a member of the famed Magic Castle in Los Angeles. In these things he was a diligent student of St. John Bosco in using whatever talents he could to attract young persons to God and the moral life. (SBW)
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