Theodore James Marsh — Theo, to anyone who knew him longer than five minutes — died on Sunday morning, May 8, 2026, at Jameson Memorial Hospital after a brief hospitalization. He was seventy-nine years old. His wife of fifty-three years, Linda, was at his side.
Theodore was born February 18, 1947, on a small farm in Ellwood City, the second of four children born to Walter and Ruth Marsh. He came home from Vietnam in 1968 with a Purple Heart he never spoke about and a quiet that lasted the rest of his life. He met Linda Vasquez at a Lawrence County Fair pierogi stand the next summer; they married in 1973 at the small Lutheran church on Highland.
For forty-one years, Theodore was a journeyman welder at the New Castle Forge. He built bridges, water-tower frames, and the steel skeleton of half the warehouses in Mahoning Valley. He could lay a TIG bead so straight that the apprentices at the forge used to bring out a level just to argue about whether it was actually straight or only appeared to be. It was always actually straight.
On Saturdays, for thirty-one years, he was a volunteer firefighter with Lawrence County Volunteer Fire Association Engine 4. He drove the truck, pulled hose, fought structure fires, and, more often, helped older neighbors get their cats out of trees. He was named LCVFA Volunteer of the Year three times. The plaques are still on his workbench in the garage.
He was a deacon at Christ Lutheran for twelve years. He sang baritone in the choir, slightly off-key, with the kind of conviction that suggested he had never noticed. He loved Italian opera, the Pittsburgh Steelers, his grandchildren — in roughly that order, depending on whether the Steelers had won that Sunday — and his garden, in which he grew tomatoes and basil and absolutely refused to grow anything that he had not personally tasted and approved.
Theo was the kind of man who would stop on the way home from his shift to help a stranger change a tire and then refuse to give his name. The family hopes that those who knew him will think of him, the next time they pass by someone who could use a hand on the side of the road, and stop.
Survivors
Theodore is survived by his wife of fifty-three years, Linda (Vasquez) Marsh, of New Castle; their three sons, Daniel (Maria) of Pittsburgh, Stephen (Karen) of Cleveland, and Joseph (Anna) of New Castle; and seven grandchildren: Mateo, Caleb, Sofia, Lucas, Theresa, Anthony, and Olivia. He is also survived by his sister, Patricia Marsh-Hennessy of Phoenix, AZ. He was preceded in death by his parents and by his two brothers, Walter Jr. and Henry.
Service Information
A visitation will be held on Wednesday, May 11, 2026, from 6:00 to 8:00 PM at the Hartwell & Sons Funeral Home. A funeral service will follow on Thursday, May 12, 2026, at 11:00 AM at Christ Lutheran Church of New Castle. A private graveside committal at New Castle Memorial Park will follow for immediate family only.
The Rev. Daniel Park of Christ Lutheran Church will officiate. Members of LCVFA Engine 4 will provide a procession of honor from the chapel to the church. Theodore's three sons will serve as pallbearers, with his grandchildren as honorary pallbearers.
Memorial Donations
In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial donations to the Lawrence County Volunteer Fire Association, where Theodore served as a volunteer firefighter for thirty-one years; or to the VFW Post 315 of New Castle, where he was a longtime member and post commander from 1998 to 2002.