KallMeKris

But life would change rather quickly when he was drafted into the US Army in 1954.

And he would be stationed in Austria and New Mexico and served as a member of the Army Signal Corp for two years.

And he did his duty diligently and earned an honorable discharge in 1956.

And upon his return to civilian life, Marshall chose to further his musical education, enrolling in the University of Colorado Boulder.

And he pursued graduate studies in music, focusing on musical theater performance.

And he honed his skills as a singer and performer through various roles in operas and musicals.

And he did have a pleasing baritone voice and showed a particular fondness for traditional spirituals.

So his training sharpened that flair for the theatrical and the stage presence and the vocal talent that had been present throughout his life.

And eventually he earned himself a master's degree.

And by his 30s, it looked like Marshall had everything going for him.

He was formally educated and had lived a life full of different experiences, and he was performing and leading and serving and teaching, and he was ambitious and talented and well-liked and respected, and he had a great family with a lot of opportunities ahead of him.

But his life would not follow in this path, and his inner turmoil, which he had hidden so well at this point, would soon peek through the cracks.

So Marshall set out in the early 1960s to pursue his dream of a career in performing, hoping to become a household name on stage.

And he moved to New York, aiming to break into Broadway or the opera circuit.

Anything to show what he was made of.

And he supported his family during this time as a singer and conductor, both in community, cultural music and commercial music, according to his resume.

And the resume also included that he was an occupational therapist at a tuberculosis sanitarium at one point, amongst other odd jobs he held.

But unfortunately, his breakout moment eluded him and Marshall never quite managed to make it to the big stage, generally only landing minor roles in the productions he took part in, causing professional disappointment within him.

Yet he still chased his musical calling, but instead through a slightly more stable route, and he would become an assistant professor of music at the University of Alabama, where he was a choir master.

But that stability would be challenged when controversy struck, and Marshall was forced to resign from his position in 1965