After 35 years in SPS, Gwen Marshall still inspires struggling students to 'keep going'

For 35 years, Gwen Marshall has been showing up for the children of Springfield Public Schools.

Community members returned the favor recently by packing a school board meeting, during which the long service of "Miss Gwen" — as she is often called — was being honored.

"There are very few places you can go in Springfield where somebody doesn't know Miss Gwen," said friend Rosalyn Thomas, associate dean of diversity and inclusion at Drury University. "It only takes a few minutes talking to her that you realize that she is very real."

Marshall joined the district in 1988, as an aide and paraprofessional to help teachers and students. Her role evolved over the years.

Now, as an equity and access specialist, she helps parents navigate difficult situations, advocates for students facing challenges, and teaches children the power of loving and respecting themselves and others.

Teachers and librarians clamor for "Reading with Miss Gwen," which involves her reading a book and then leading an activity about character, history or different holidays and cultural celebrations.

"She has always had a big place in her heart for young people, for children, and they like and respect her," said Mark Dixon, president of the Bartley-Decatur Neighborhood Center.

Dixon said the turnout at the Oct. 25 meeting, where Marshall's service and impact were celebrated, was fitting for a woman revered as an elder in the community.

"She has earned the right to be listened to and she comes with an authoritative voice, naturally and spiritually, that you cannot ignore. Powerful," he said.

Following a standing ovation, Marshall spoke briefly, focusing on her faith and the deep gratitude she feels for the people who helped her along the way.

"It took a while to get where I wanted to go," she said, alluding to a decades-long effort to finish college and earn an advanced degree.

"But I always loved to teach. I wanted to be in the classroom. I wanted to be with the children. I always wanted to be connected. So it's a love of mine, from kindergarten all the way high school, I've done a little bit of everything."

At the meeting, Marshall added: "I just thank God that he allowed me to do all of the things that I've done — to operate in the positions I've operated in."

'Crying as I came down Drury Lane'

Earlier this year, Marshall spoke to the News-Leader about her life, the obstacles she overcame and why she uses her experiences to help others.

She grew up in Jackson, Mississippi and then Memphis, where she graduated from the segregated Hamilton High School in 1966.

An only child, both of her parents worked for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Her father was a chef. Her mother was a registered nurse.

Her mother was one of 14 children born to parents with only an elementary education. They inspired all of their kids to finish high school and go on to college and careers.

That love of school was ignited in Marshall, who dreamt of becoming a teacher. "That is just how she had raised me, that education was important."

Marshall planned to go to a college in Mississippi, but the residence halls were full. In 1967, after doctors at the VA told her mom about Missouri State University, she enrolled here.

"We rode the train from Memphis to Springfield, coming up through Thayer, and I got here and it was a total culture shock," she recalled. "It was just on the cusp of desegregation. Kids were coming from everywhere but there was just a bit of tension."

She was pursuing her passion, a teaching degree, when "life took a turn." She explained: "This young man came into my life and I ended up leaving Missouri State."

Marshall married, had four children, but did not give up on college. "I would go back and take classes periodically but it was very difficult because I had a family and was trying to work."

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Hired by the district in 1988, she worked as a paraprofessional, or aide, in various buildings including McGregor and York elementary schools, Study Middle School, and Kickapoo and Central high schools.

She worked alongside educators who lifted her up and encouraged her to finish college.

Thomas, the first diversity liaison in the district, saw Marshall's potential and offered to apply any leftover minority scholarship funds to help the working mother take classes at Drury.

"I never dreamed I would have the opportunity financially to pursue my dream, my goals, and I remember crying as I came down Drury Lane," Marshall recalled of enrolling at the private liberal arts college. "I was so thankful to SPS and to Rosalyn Thomas to even notice or think of me."

By that point, she was a single mother trying to make ends meet on $900 a month. She worked a second job during the summer.

"Going to those classes was a reprieve. I enjoyed going to Drury. It took me away from my present circumstances."

Sometimes, to go to class, she had to bring her youngest daughter along. Thomas was impressed with Marshall's resilience.

"Your ordinary, run-of-the-mill person would have gone under a long time ago but she never did. And if she did, you never knew because she found her way back," Thomas said.

"I don't think you survive all that she has survived and not know that there is grace on your side. To me, she is absolutely wonderful."

'With education came better pay'

Once Marshall earned enough credits for an associate's degree at Drury, she invited her mother to the ceremony.

"That is the one thing I wanted," she recalled. "I wanted my mother to see me finish what I had come to Springfield to do."

Marshall later finished the bachelor's degree and by 2011 — 44 years after her first class at Missouri State — she earned a master's degree.

"It's been a long journey but here we are and I wouldn't have traded any of it, none of it, not the hard times, not the times (working) in the basement of Study," she said.

Through higher education, Marshall said she was "able to pull myself out of a very dire situation." She added: "With education came better pay. With better pay, came a better living arrangement."

Nate Quinn, who succeeded Thomas as the district's diversity liaison, hired Marshall to work on his team. There were other leaders including Marty Moore, LA Anderson and now Yvania Garcia-Pusateri, but she has remained a fixture in the district's equity, diversity and inclusion efforts.

She has helped with training and teaching age-appropriate lessons on everything from Women's History Month and Martin Luther King Jr. to the Chinese New Year.

"Sometimes if there is a situation going on in the classroom and a teacher might say 'Can you come read a book?' and so I find a little book and read it and we have discussion," she said.

"I do enjoy it. It's an incredible opportunity to hear from the young people and their heart. They have ideas and they get to share."

To elementary students, she will often read "We Don't Eat Our Classmates" about making friends and being kind, or "Have You Filled A Bucket Today?" about saying positive and uplifting things to others.

Marshall, who has nine grandchildren and one great-grandchild, has been asked by parents to accompany them to meetings with school officials.

In that role, she wants to be provide insight and support that will help the students and their families. "You just keep encouraging them and telling them they can make it and find resources."

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'One of the most iconic figures in the community'

Marshall remains heavily involved in the Black History Summer Academy, held each year at Drury and Silver Springs Park.

She is the emcee for the Ariya, a rite-of-passage celebration of college-bound high school graduates, that highlights young women and serves as the culminating event for the academy.

"With the Ariya, we want to highlight them and tell them we appreciate them sticking to it and being the student that they are," Marshall said. "Many of these young people have done phenomenal things."

Marshall, a longtime minister, is part of the team at Deliverance Temple Church, where she is the chairperson for the board of elders.

She is a sought-after speaker at events, from annual Kwanzaa celebrations to local African American Read-In events. She is also an ethnic storyteller.

"I do whatever I am called on to do," she said.

Marshall, who has not yet announced plans to retire, said she delights in seeing high school students get involved in school and the community and set out to make a difference.

Asked to describe Marshall, Thomas pointed to her "beautiful bright smile," humble demeanor and tireless work to help young people "come into their full potential."

"She is always in prayer about our children and I think that is what keeps her going," Thomas said. "There is no greater pride then when someone she has worked with — in elementary school, in middle school or whatever — and that child graduates."

Dixon called her "one of the most iconic figures in the community, and that goes across racial lines."

It's not uncommon for a principal, pastor or community member to call on Marshall to talk to a young person who is in a tough spot.

"There are a lot of things I could say to these young ladies and young men to help them succeed," she said. "My own personal life experiences, some of the things I've gone through, the things that life has dealt me that they are going through, I can say to them 'You can overcome this.'"

At times, Marshall will talk about what it took to complete a college degree.

"Even though it seemed at times it was never going to come to fruition, there was always something in me that said 'Keep going,'" she said. "If I had to say anything to anyone it would be 'Keep pursuing your dreams. Don't quit, don't give up, keep going, because doors will open for you.'"

Claudette Riley covers education at the News-Leader. Email tips and story ideas to criley@news-leader.com.