Theodore "Ted" Marston (2002)

MARSTON, WILL, WYNKOOP

Posted By: Pat Hochstetler
Date: 6/11/2006 at 21:08:21

Seattle Times
Seattle, Washington
Saturday, November 2, 2002

Deceased Name: Ted Marston, leader in garden community

Theodore Marston left the Iowa farm where he grew up in the 1930s, but he never left behind a fascination with plants and the thrill of watching them grow.

He was delighted when he coaxed a spectacular Tower of Jewels plant from the Canary Islands to bloom. And just recently, he completed -- as much as any dedicated gardener or landscaper ever completes a project -- a spectacular waterfall garden at his Kirkland home, a three-year effort that earned expressions of awe from the country's best garden writers.

Mr. Marston, "Ted" to those who knew him, died Monday at age 70 after surgery and other health complications.

From coast to coast, word of his death spread throughout the horticultural community, where Mr. Marston was known for his graceful writing and extensive knowledge of plants from every corner of the world.

Said his friend Egon Molbak, the founder of Molbak's nursery, "He had an incredibly inquisitive mind, a mind that was like flypaper -- everything stuck to it. I don't think Ted ever forgot anything."

Mr. Marston was a board member of the American Horticultural Society, and, with Molbak and Duane Kelly, founder of the Northwest Flower & Garden Show, hosted the society's annual meeting in June in Seattle.

As always, said Kelly, Mr. Marston was a font of creativity and imagination. "Ted was always coming up with ideas. He would come up with 10 more ideas than we could ever use."

In fact, he feasted on ideas and was a voracious reader, said his wife, Dorothy.

"He was constantly reading, reading about things in every field: travel, novels, plant books -- anything in the bookstore that caught his attention," she said.

Mr. Marston was an engaging conversationalist, friends said. "He was a man who loved a gathering of people," said Terri Malinowski, a longtime friend. "He loved to discuss politics, history, famous authors."

He enjoyed meeting people, friends said. "He was always trying to draw people out, to learn things from them," said John Hughes, another longtime friend. "He would stop and talk to anybody at the drop of a hat."

Born Aug. 18, 1932, Mr. Marston graduated from Iowa State University, beginning in horticulture but switching to journalism and settling on a course of studies in agricultural journalism.

He went to work in Chicago as an advertising copywriter and account executive on agricultural accounts.

"But he really had a yearning to grow plants," his wife said.

And sure enough, he saw an ad for a greenhouse for sale -- the Hollywood Greenhouses, a commercial rose-growing firm in the Sammamish Valley.

With their 4-year-old son, the couple moved to Woodinville in 1966 to run the business.

In the early 1970s, he conceived the idea of a national houseplants magazine and started Plants Alive on a shoestring, his wife said. Though its circulation grew to 175,000, it chewed through money at too great a clip.

In 1982, the family moved back to Chicago, where Mr. Marston took a job with George Ball, a seed and plant company, to do public relations.

By 1985, the Marstons were back in the Northwest. Mr. Marston began an independent public-relations business and wrote travel and other free-lance stories.

After retirement, he led gardening expeditions to many parts of the world, searching out rare plants and propagating them in his greenhouse from cuttings and seeds.

He was a former president of the Garden Writers Association of America, and was awarded the title of fellow in 1999.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by his son, Grant, and daughter-in-law, Ligaya, of Dublin, Calif.; sister Barbara Marston of Des Moines, Iowa; brother John Paul Marston of Earlham, Iowa; and two grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at a later date.
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Earlham Library Obituary Collection
Earlham, Iowa
November 2002

Ted Marston, 70, of Kirkland, Wash., died Oct. 28, 2002, in Seattle, Wash., following surgery and other health complications.

A memorial service will be held Saturday, Nov. 23, at the Episcopal Church in Kenmore, Wash.

Ted Marston was born Aug. 18, 1932, in Iowa to Gale and Gayle (Wynkoop) Marston. He grew up in Madison County, graduating from Earlham High School. In 1954, he received a degree in agricultural journalism/horticulture from Iowa State. On Dec. 22, 1955, he married Dorothy Will. Following his tour of duty as a signal corps officer in the United States Army, Ted worked for an advertising agency in Chicago, then owned and operated a commercial rose-growing complex in Woodinville, Wash. Later, he and his wife founded, edited and published "Plants Alive," a national houseplants magazine. Since 1985, he worked on independent public relations business and was a freelance writer. He was a former president of the Garden Writers Association of America.

He is survived by his wife, Dorothy, of Kirkland; a son Grant (wife Ligaya) of Dublin, Calif.; a sister, Barbara Marston of Des Moines; a brother, Paul Marston of Earlham; and two grandchildren.

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