Annette Marshall, 66, fed less fortunate

Annette Marshall loved the Georgia Lottery Cash 3 game so much that she went to her neighborhood convenience store to play it seven days a week.

Once there, she’d encounter the addicts and homeless people who walked the streets in south DeKalb County’s Belvedere community.

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Annette Marshall (with granddaughter DeAntionette Marshall) loved to play the daily lottery and card games, but she’ll be remembered for taking in people who had no place to go.

Many of them knew her, said her daughter, and all who did called her “Mama Marshall.”

Mrs. Marshall fed the downtrodden a smile and a meal. Many people with no place to go found refuge in her home, said her daughter, Robbie Marshall of Covington.

“You don’t have to have a whole lot of money to make people happy,” she said. “You just need to have a big heart. She just loved and did so much for others.”

Annette Marshall, 66, died at her home on March 5 of cardiac arrest. Her funeral is today at 11 a.m. at New Beginning Full Gospel Baptist Church in Decatur. Donald Trimble Mortuary is in charge of arrangements.

Mrs. Marshall for years took extra plates of holiday dinners to people hanging around the store, her daughter said. She was famous for her cooking, especially for her turkey and dressing and sweet potato pies.

“She never wanted anybody to be hungry,” Robbie Marshall said. “She knew they could do better, but she also knew they had a problem and that they had no family.”

Mrs. Marshall grew up in DeKalb’s Scottdale community. She graduated from cosmetology school, worked as a beautician for many years and was a sought-after seamstress. She was big on playing cards, the “Queen of Tonk,” her daughter said.

She had seven children, including two who preceded her in death, Gerald Marshall and Antonio Marshall. Her friend Nicole Parker of Covington said Mrs. Marshall’s strong religious convictions and constant smile helped free her from depression over her medical problems.

“She was more concerned about my health than her own,” Ms. Parker said. “She shaped my character. She molded my spirit. And she touched my heart forever.”

Estella Bryant met Mrs. Marshall 30 years ago when she was selling Fuller brushes door to door.

“She just welcomed me in with open arms,” Mrs. Bryant said. “We sat and talked as if we’d known each other a long time. And she ordered some Fuller brushes.”

Later in life, when Mrs. Bryant was angry enough with one of her sons to put him out, Mrs. Marshall asked her to give him one more chance, she said.

Like so many others who had come before him, and who would come after, he ended up spending a few weeks in Mrs. Marshall’s home, Mrs. Bryant said.

When he returned home, she said, laughing at the memory, “he acted like he had some sense.”

Additional survivors include her daughter Renee Marshall Matthews of Lithonia; sons Bruce Marshall of Stone Mountain and Timothy Marshall and Steve Marshall of Decatur; 12 grandchildren; one great-grandchild; and a brother, Robert L. Marshall of Atlanta.