Obituary of Phil W. Marsh

Phil was born in Longview, Texas August 20, 1935. During his early years, Phil lived in South America, Southeast Asia, and New York as his parents followed the international oil and gas industry. Phil and his brother Larry attended St. John Military Academy in Kansas from 1945 to 1951, spending summers in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with their aunt and uncle. After graduating from Norman High School in 1953 and the University of Oklahoma in 1957, he married Martha Louise Johnson and began his career as a petroleum geologist. His jobs with Sinclair and Shenandoah Oil Companies led him on missions around the world including significant exploration in Prudhoe Bay on the north slope of Alaska.

Phil and Marty lived in Texas, Alaska and Colorado before eventually settling in Tulsa where they spent most of their adult lives. In 1974, Phil founded his own independent company, Marsh Oil and Gas, which allowed him to explore, drill, and operate oil and gas wells in Oklahoma. Phil grew to love the land and the people in many areas across Oklahoma. For nearly 50 years, Marsh Oil and Gas developed a reputation based on generosity, honesty and respect for others. In the early 1980s, Phil was one of the founders of Metro Christian Academy in Tulsa where his sons Carter and Paul graduated, as well as his grandchildren Margo and Garrison. In the 1990s, Phil, Carter, and Paul owned and operated the Oklahoma tourist postcard and souvenir business, Prairie Production Company. In the early 2000s, Phil turned his creative energy to oil painting and also renovating rental houses around Tulsa, eventually added his daughter Susie to the Marsh Oil and Gas management team in 2008.

Family activities and time spent together were Phil’s top priority. At one point, Phil, Marty, Susie, Carter, and Paul were each on their own soccer team, spending countless practice nights at Tulsa’s Boulder/Veterans’ park. Phil enjoyed a wide variety of hobbies in his leisure time including building slingshots and tree swings, making chili and pies, catching snakes, hosting pool parties, playing the piano, oil painting, running the Tulsa Run, swimming at the YWCA, and spending many happy hours at his house on Grand Lake. After Marty passed away in 2010, he spent the next chapter of his life in Tulsa, Crested Butte, Colorado, and Pauls Valley, Oklahoma, adding special friends along the way.

Beyond loving his family, Phil also loved his fellow neighbor and always looked for opportunities to bless others. He had a special gift of befriending and encouraging people who needed a helping hand. Phil and Marty were faithful members of First United Methodist Church. Their home was the site of many youth activities and Phil led a number of youth mission teams to Texas and Mexico. He was an inspiring mentor to many in business, personal, and spiritual development. When he received gratitude or compliments, he acknowledged the source of his blessings, his Heavenly Father.

Phil passed from this life April 18, 2023, and is preceded in death by his parents, Helen and Lawrence Marsh; brother, Lawrence Alvin Marsh, Sr.; his son, Philip Carter Marsh, and his cherished wife of 53 years, Martha Louise Johnson Marsh. He is survived by his sister, Merry Ann Bingham, sister-in-law, Sally Marsh, his daughter, Susie Agee and her husband Jasen of Pauls Valley, Oklahoma; his son, Paul Marsh and his wife, Wynne, of Tulsa; daughter-in-law, Christine Marsh and her husband, Zack Green, of Tulsa.  His grandsons are Garrison Paul Marsh, Jackson Carter Marsh, and Benjamin Carter Marsh. His granddaughters are Elaine Martha Agee Guinn and her husband, Trent; Meredith Grace Agee Ramirez and her husband, Mauricio; Margaret Marsh, and Victoria Rose Agee and her fiancé, Jase Ryan. His great-granddaughter is Charlotte Louise Guinn. Phil’s very special friends and relatives will also carry on his legacy with love.

The family will receive friends from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. Monday, April 24 at Ninde Brookside Funeral Home, 39^th & S. Peoria Ave. A memorial service for Phil Marsh will be held 1:00 p.m. Tuesday, April 25 at First Methodist Church, 1115 South Boulder, Tulsa, Oklahoma. In lieu of flowers, friends may contribute to Metro Christian Academy and The Samaritans of Pauls Valley.

Ninde Funeral Directors, Brookside Chapel (918) 742-5556