The training Marshall received from his father on the farm helped to form his work habits and excellence in everything he taught. When he was ten a cousin gave him a 12-inch hand scroll saw with which he crafted very delicate items. He graduated from Spring Hill township school in 1913. In high school in 1915 as a junior classman, Marshall entered a national contest, making a large kitchen cabinet (34" X 58" X 85") of red gum with a flour bin and zinc top. He made the cabinet by hand in one semester at school and won top honors in the Simonds Saw Prize Contest. He was given a tool cabinet filled with tools and it is still on display at the Ensor Park & Museum along with the kitchen cabinet.

Because of Marshall's natural talent with woodwork and other industrial arts he was a paid teacher's assistant the next year in 1916 at Olathe High School. That year he made a wireless radio station in the classroom. He graduated 17 June, 1917 and taught Industrial Arts in the Olathe High School from 1918 to 1965. He completed a course in Automotive Repair at the Sweeney Automobile Repair School in Kansas City Mo. He also studied Pattern Making, at the Bradley Polytechnic Institute. Marshall served three years as a Commander with the US Navy at the Seattle Navy Base during WWII. He received the degrees of B.S. and M.S. from Kansas State College at Pittsburg, Kansas.

He made the first electric scoreboard for basketball games in Olathe. He taught the students about all types of woodworking techniques as well as concrete, alabaster, plastics, block printing, forging, auto mechanics and welding. Many national magazines for industrial arts and vocational training published articles by Marshall regarding his organization of classroom proceedures, which allowed his students to win national honors.

His design of a rocking chair, modeled after a pioneer rocker brought from Maryland by Ida Ensor, was made by many of his students. The rocker made by Thomas A. Brown of his design won top honors at the American Industrial Arts Association and was presented to President John F Kennedy in 1961.