Rash's Surname Index
Notes for Gertrude Annetta PARNELL
Gertrude Parnell Marshall, 104, of Ardmore and, later, Medford, an investment analyst during the Great Depression and a leader among Philadelphia Quakers, died Wednesday, Sept. 28, in her sleep at Medford Leas.
Mrs. Marshall was an early challenger of the barriers facing professional women. Long before women worked in investment banking, she was employed from 1934 to 1943 as an analyst in the investment department of the former Provident National Bank in Philadelphia.
"She was basically a fund manager, but she wasn't dealing with clients," said her son, Edward Marshall III. "She was basically doing the analytics to tell the bank what to invest in."
Born in 1912 to Willis Jonas Parnell and Eva Gertrude Magoun at Germantown Hospital, she was reared in the city.
She was a direct descendant of William Cooper, an early Quaker settler of Camden whose family founded Cooper Hospital.
In 1930, Mrs. Marshall graduated second in her class from Germantown High School, and afterward received a full scholarship to Bryn Mawr College. She graduated magna cum laude in 1934 with a degree in mathematics.
In 1943, she met E. Wayne Marshall, a young Quaker physician. They were married three months later. Mrs. Marshall turned her attention to rearing their two children. She took time out from their family life in Ardmore to volunteer for the Philadelphia Orchestra, whose music she loved.
Mrs. Marshall was a pacifist and felt a strong attraction to the beliefs and activities of the Society of Friends. She joined the Quakers, and from 1952 until 1993, served in many leadership roles, including clerk of Haverford Monthly Meeting, clerk of Medford Monthly Meeting, clerk of Representative Meeting, and clerk of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting.
She also served on the boards of the American Friends Service Committee and the National Council of Churches. Much of her outreach work reflected her opposition to the Vietnam War, and her support of racial and gender equality.
Mrs. Marshall was concerned that she would not live to cast her vote in this fall's presidential election.
"She was 8 years old in 1920, and remembered the passage of the 19th Amendment that gave American women the right to vote for the first time," her son said.
Racing against the press of declining health, Mrs. Marshall completed an absentee ballot on Tuesday, the day before she died.
"She cast her vote and signed her name as her final act of a long life of service to others," her son said.
Besides her son, she is survived by daughter Elizabeth Taylor Marshall; three grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. Her husband of 60 years died in 2004.
Services will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 8, at Medford Leas, Medford, N.J. Burial is private.
Donations may be made to Bryn Mawr College, 101 N. Merion Ave., Bryn Mawr, Pa. 19010.
bcook@@phillynews.com
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