Marshall, Jesse Simon (1888–1960)

Jesse Simon Marshall served as a pastor, educator, and administrator in the United States, Argentina, and in the Antillean Union (Bahamas, Cuba, Haiti, Santo Domingo, Jamaica, Cayman Islands, and Puerto Rico, with headquarters in Cuba).¹

Jesse S. Marshall was born on September 9, 1888, in Monroe, Iowa, United States. After listening to Ellen G. White at a camp meeting, he decided to be baptized. He took the ministerial course at Emanuel Missionary College. In 1914 he married Marian Bisset.

He served as a teacher at Graysville Academy in Tennessee, United States. From 1915 to 1918 he served at Southern Missionary College. He returned to Emanuel Missionary College to study and at the same time to serve as a dean.

When he graduated, he was appointed director of River Plate Academy, located in Entre Rios Province, Argentina, from late 1919 to January 11, 1934. A period of growth and development of that institution began with Professor Marshall. He started a construction program that led the institution to increase from 6 to 25 buildings. He gave special emphasis to the development of the bakery, carpentry, and auto repair. By 1927, the farm saw extraordinary improvement with the acquisition of Holstein cows and the inauguration of a model tambo, which led to awards and recognition at different exhibitions.²

In 1925 the girls’ dormitory was expanded and the construction of another wing in the boys' dormitory began, which was used from school year1927. In 1925 a shed was built for carpentry. In 1929 the construction of a spacious place for the bakery was completed. The telephone connection with the city of Paraná, capital of the province of Entre Ríos, was inaugurated on April 3, 1928. An increase in land occurred when 292 acres (118 hectares) were acquired.

Between the years 1908 to 1912, director Walter C. John, organized the educational program with a six-year elementary school and a four-year high school, known at that time as the "Missionary Course." By 1920 the school offered four different careers: teaching, secretarial, Bible instructor, and theology. In 1924 it acquired the denominational status of a tertiary level institution. In 1926 two more years of studies were added.³ In October 1923 a periodical called La Voz del Colegio [Voice of the Academy] started publication and the Sociedad Misionera Pastoral (Pastoral Missionary Society) was organized on June 12, 1924.

J. S. Marshall was ordained to the pastoral ministry on February 11, 1929, in a ceremony officiated by pastors C. B. Haynes, E. L. Maxwell and J. W. Westphal.⁴

For two years after 1934 he served as the director of the Education and Youth Departments of the Antillian Union Mission with headquarters at Havana, Cuba.⁵ Later he was director of Antillian Junior College, with headquarters also in Cuba. He developed the institution in Santa Clara.⁶ In 1947 he returned to the United States where he served as secretary at Sunnydale Academy, located in Missouri.

When he retired, he settled in Corona, California. Jesse died on April 29, 1960.⁷ He was a dynamic educational administrator, remembered with appreciation by his students and the educational community.

Sources

“Ashore and Afloat.” The Inter American Division, vol. 9, nº 4, April 1934.

Brown, Walton J. “Historia del Colegio Adventista del Plata” [River Plate Academy History]. La Voz del Colegio. Puiggari, Entre Ríos, Argentina: November 1948.

Burgan, Walter L. “News Paper Publicity in the Argentine.” ARH, December 1, 1927.

Calkins, Glenn. “Annual Committee Meeting in Inter-America.” The Inter American Division, vol. 21, nº 5, May 1944.

Calkins, Glenn. “The Annual Meeting of the Antillian Union Mission.” The Inter American Division, vol. 20, nº 3, March 1943.

Greenleaf, Floyd. Tierra de esperanza: El crecimiento de la Iglesia Adventista Sudamericana [A Land of Hope: The Growth of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church in South America]. Trad. Claudia Blath. Buenos Aires: South American Spanish Publishing House, 2011.

Haynes, Carlyle B. “The Austral Union Session.” South American Bulletin, vol. 5, nº 4, April 1929.

Howell, W. E. “School Notes in South America, Nº 5.” ARH, July 29, 1920.

“In Remembrance” (Jesse S. Marshall). ARH, June 30, 1960.

Marshall, J. S. “River Plate Junior College.” ARH, March 31, 1927.

Marshall, J. S. “River Plate Junior College.” South American Bulletin, vol. 6, nº 1, January 1930.

“Obituaries” (Jesse S. Marshall). Pacific Union Recorder, vol. 59, nº 45, June 6, 1960.

Peverini, Héctor J. En las huellas de la Providencia [In the footsteps of the Providence]. Buenos Aires: South American Spanish Publishing House, 1988.

Seventh Day Adventist Yearbook. Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing, 1935.

Appreciation of Seventh-Day Adventist School Work in Argentina.” ARH, October 1, 1925, 1, 20.

Wensell, Egil H. El poder de una esperanza que educa y sana [The power of a hope that educates and heals]. Libertador San Martín, Entre Ríos: Editorial River Plate University, 1993.

Wilcox, F. H. “Argentina.” ARH, May 6, 1926, 17.

Notes

1. “In Remembrance” (Jesse S. Marshall), ARH, June 30, 1960, 25. Walton J. Brown, “Historia del Colegio Adventista del Plata” [River Plate History], La Voz del Colegio [Voice of the Academy] Puiggari, Entre Ríos, Argentina: November 1948, 11-13, 32. Héctor J. Peverini, En las huellas de la Providencia [In the footsteps of the Providence] (Buenos Aires: South American Spanish Publishing House, 1988), 311. Egil H. Wensell, El poder de una esperanza que educa y sana [The power of a hope that educates and heals] (Buenos Aires: South American Spanish Publishing House, 1993), 90-95, 121-123. Floyd Greenleaf, Tierra de esperanza: El crecimiento de la Iglesia Adventista Sudamericana [Land of Hope: The Growth of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church in South America], trad. Claudia Blath (Buenos Aires: South American Spanish Publishing House, 2011), 261-264, 387-388.↩

2. F. H. Wilcox, “Argentina,” ARH, May 6, 1926, 17. N. Z. Town, “Appreciation of Seventh-Day Adventist School Work in Argentina,” ARH, October 1, 1925, 1, 20. J. S. Marshall, “River Plate Junior College,” ARH, March 31, 1927, 20. Walter L. Burgan, “News Paper Publicity in the Argentine,” ARH, December 1, 1927, 17.↩

3. W. E. Howell, “School Notes in South America, Nº 5,” ARH, July 29, 1920, 24. J. S. Marshall, “River Plate College,” ARH, March 31, 1927, 20. J. S. Marshall, “River Plate Junior College,” South American Bulletin, vol. 6, nº 1, January 1930, 8.↩

4. Carlyle B. Haynes, “The Austral Union Session,” South American Bulletin, vol. 5, nº 4, April 1929, 5, 6. In the occasion, the following pastors were ordained: Francisco Brouchy, Godofredo Block (h), Mateo Leytes, Harold C. Brown, J. S. Marshall, J. M. Howell, C. E. Westphal, y J. H. Meier.↩

5. “Ashore and Afloat,” The Inter American Division, vol. 9, nº 4, April 1934, 16; Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing, 1935), 133.↩

6. Glenn Calkins, “The Annual Meeting of the Antillian Union Mission,” The Inter American Division, vol. 20, nº 3, March 1943, 1. Glenn Calkins, “Annual Committee Meeting in Inter-America,” The Inter American Division, vol. 21, nº 5, May 1944, 2.↩

7. “Obituaries” (Jesse S. Marshall), Pacific Union Recorder, vol. 59, nº 45, June 6, 1960, 13.↩