On August 4, 2007 Mary Lou Marshall of Chickasha, OK passed away some 10 months after being diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Lou Gehrig's Disease. She died at the age of 69 at the residence of her daughter, Daphne Massa of Nixa, MO who had been her caregiver since just before her final diagnosis. From the beginning of illness until her final hours, Mary Lou endured her illness with a grace clearly born of her faith.

Mary Lou grew up in Chickasha, the daughter of Jerry and Lillie Marshall. She graduated from Chickasha High School and Oklahoma College for Women. While living in Chickasha, she taught elementary school in the surrounding communities.

Mary Lou spent most of the last four decades of her life continuing to study and produce works of art, notably landscape and still life oil paintings. Her studies took her to Northern Virginia Community College, the Art League of Alexandria (VA), the Parsons School of Design, and the Art Student League, both in New York City. Mary Lou was also an apprentice to Portraitist Nelson Shanks of Pennsylvania.

Mary Lou had solo exhibitions of her work in numerous locations around the Washington, DC region to include A.J.W. Fine Art in Bethesda, MD; Arnold & Porter in Washington, DC; Town Hall in Vienna, VA; and the Atrium Gallery at Lombardi, in Washington, DC. Her work has been seen in galleries to include the Ambassador Gallery, INC of New York, NY; the Broadway Gallery of Fairfax, VA; the Byrne Gallery of Middleburg, VA; and the Gallerie La Vie, of Santa Fe, NM.

Throughout her life, Mary Lou was a faithful Christian and member of the Church of Christ. She lived a life deep in faith, with a clear commitment to Jesus Christ as her personal savior. Her family knows she rests now with her Lord and Savior.

She was preceded in death by her father, Jerry Marshall and her brothers, Jerry Franklin Marshall and John Marshall.

Mary Lou is survived by her mother Lillie, also of Chickasha; her brother and his wife James and Mary Ruth Marshall of Oklahoma City; her son and his family, Tod Massa, his wife Melinda, and their sons James and Zachary of Richmond, VA; her daughter, Daphne Massa, and her daughter, Alyson Baker, both of Nixa, MO; and her daughter Sara Boyle, her husband Don, and their children: Katie, Brendan, Peter, Tom, Philip, and Meg of Alpharetta, Ga.

In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to the We Care Campaign, c/o Southern Oaks Church of Christ, 3320 S. 16th Street, Chickasha, OK 73018 or to the ALS Association-Keith Worthington Chapter, 1721 W. Elfindale, Suite 101, Springfield, MO 65807.

Interment will be in the Rose Hill Cemetery. Services are under the direction of McRay Funeral Home.