Alan Ashworth Marshall III

Alan Ashworth Marshall, III passed away peacefully on Monday, May 19, 2025 after a brave battle with a sudden illness. His family is devastated by the loss, but we take comfort in remembering his warm, generous, and compassionate character. We have also been sustained by an outpouring of prayers and support from our families and friends. We’ll never be able to thank everyone enough, but we do thank all of you from our hearts.

 

Alan was a happy child with a bright smile and curious nature. When he learned to speak the questions came freely and without ceasing for anything but sleep. He was often more interested in how things worked than why they existed, an early clue to his strong interest in the sciences. Gentle with all creatures great and small, from our pets to the denizens of our big backyard, he loved the outdoors and everything in it. He loved climbing trees, once startling the entire family by climbing up to a high perch in a pine tree in our yard when he was just over three years old. This love grew to be a big part of his essential nature. He had a true gift with animals, especially with dogs, and loved wolves and other wild dogs. He studied and worked hard to understand their true nature, and would gently correct others’ assumptions about them.

 

We did not want Alan to be nicknamed “little Alan”, or Trip, or Trey. We chose Worth, derived from his middle name. On a family trip to Disney World when he was six, he made quick friends with another kid in the pool. He told him “My parents call me Worth, but my name is Alan to my friends. So, you can call me Alan.” But he always made it clear to the people with whom he was closest that it was OK to call him Worth.

 

Alan had a very special love of his grandfather, Jim Varnadore. He cherished their Saturday morning tradition of getting a hair cut from Robbie at Myers Park Barber shop followed by a big pancake breakfast. He also loved both grandmothers, enjoying delicious food and fun with “Lolli” Varnadore and having dinner on TV trays in “EB” Marshall’s room where he and Demi would watch Remington Steele, Hart to Hart, and Walker, Texas Ranger. Although he never met his paternal grandfather, Alan A. Marshall, he was always interested and respectful of his life and work in Wilmington NC.  Big Alan would have loved Big Alan.

 

Alan took part in the YMCA’s kids soccer programs and played church league basketball for seven years along with friends and teammates at Myers Park Presbyterian Church. As he grew older, he took a strong interest in hockey and lacrosse. During some of the awkward pre-teen and early teen years the street hockey games with friends and youth league lacrosse games helped him expand his friendships and grow in confidence. He grew past these years and with the encouragement and instruction of several coaches at Providence Day School he became an excellent athlete in wrestling and football. He developed deep bonds of friendship with his teammates and coaches, and with many other parents and teachers.

 

In the spring of 2011 near the end of his senior year in high school, Alan wrestled a very tough opponent and won the state championship in the heavyweight class. He treated his opponents with courtesy and respect regardless of how they treated him, took losses with grace, and never gloated when he or his teammates won. We are especially thankful for the friendship, coaching and counsel of wrestling coaches Paultje (Paul) Burnham and John Ashcraft and football coaches Adam Hastings and Bruce Hardin.

 

Alan graduated from Providence Day School in May 2011 and enrolled at Appalachian State University that fall. He initially planned to pursue a business degree and worked part-time for Dr. Fred Whitt, the founding Dean of App State’s new College of Health Sciences. Dr. Whitt and his wife Donna Lynn were very supportive of Alan and hoped he might explore a career in science or healthcare.  However, Alan remained uncertain about his path, and by the fall of his sophomore year chose to withdraw from the university.

 

He stayed in Boone, where he worked and took evening courses for several years. In 2016, he moved to Wilmington to help his employer open a new office in Eastern North Carolina. Although the venture began with promise, it eventually faced challenges that led Alan to pursue other work. For the next couple of years he worked several jobs, including one that required travel over much of Eastern NC and coastal SC.

 

During a work trip to Charleston in 2017 he met his future wife, Kathryn (Kat) Taylor Noviello. As their relationship grew, Alan became determined to return to school. After a thoughtful conversation with family friend Bill Hill, Alan was offered a place to live rent-free, allowing him to afford tuition and refocus on his studies. He enrolled at Cape Fear Community College and shifted his interest from business to the sciences, where he excelled. .  Near the end of his first year he was hired by CFCC to tutor other students in chemistry, physics and trigonometry.

 

Alan continued tutoring even after transferring to the University of North Carolina at Wilmington in 2019, where he majored in biology.  He adapted well to remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic and received grant support that helped him complete his degree, before graduating in December 2021.

 

Alan found immediate work with a local veterinarian and was hired in the fall by Quality Chemical Labs as a chemical analyst. He felt confident and optimistic about the future, and in September 2022, he proposed to Kat. They were married on May 13, 2023, in a joyful ceremony at the Carolina Yacht Club.

 

Alan and Kat shared many happy moments—travel, time with friends, and a deep love for dogs. They also faced heartbreak, especially with the loss of their two rescue hounds, Lennon and Copper. Alan was especially patient and gentle with Copper, who had come from a difficult background. After Copper’s passing, Alan struggled with the depression that threatened his health and his marriage. 

 

Alan is survived by his parents, Dana Varnadore Marshall and Alan Marshall, Jr., his beloved sister, Dana I. (Demi) Marshall, his uncles Jamey Varnadore and Dr. Fred Bahnson, his aunt Julie Marshall Bahnson, his wife Kat, and many cousins from North Carolina, Kansas and Montana. His parents are so thankful for the strong love and support he received from his cousins Fred Bahnson, III, Carsten Bahnson and Mary Bahnson Kummerfeldt and from their spouses during some of the happiest and most difficult times of his life. Our family is especially thankful for the close circle of friends that Alan had, and for their families. His life was enriched by Alex Cichan, Peter Ryan and Sarah Anne Ryan and the Ryan family,  Aaron and Cassie Pierce, Max Lawrence and his family, Dylan Penner and his family, David Hill, his sister Elisabeth H. Greenleaf, and their father and lifelong family friend, William L. (Bill) Hill, and for Jock and Kelsey Parker. As a family we give special thanks to Sally and Brock Taylor. Alan loved their dear son Jake and their daughters Murphy Anne and Riley.  We also share a long friendship and loving bond with Michele Oswald, her son Josh Coffman, and her husband Mark Oswald, and with Janet, Steve, and Justin Wright. They have all experienced and endured the dreadful pain we are feeling now and have done so with Grace while still showing love to their friends. We also thank Greg Keith and his entire family and all of our wonderful friends at The Keith Corporation.  We will always treasure many special memories of the times we were all together with family.  Alan loved a big family meal, especially the memorable holiday dinners with the Marshall and Varnadore families all at one table and with friends Steve Bryan and Mark Auchter joining us. Alan’s late aunt Mary Marshall Kerns (Mimi) never forgot the year we had nine desserts, all homemade.  He loved the long beach days and joyful nights with Lolli and Pa. He loved sharing food, mountain hikes, river floats and making music with the Bahnsons. A favorite memory is of a wonderful night in North Myrtle Beach with his cousin Willy Tiffany, who taught him the joy of spitting watermelon seeds from the third floor porch. We can still hear their  giggles and whispers when they were choosing their next target. Alan and Willy are together now and if there is any boyish mischief in Heaven, they will find it.  He did not like pizza much but loved pizza nights at Picasso’s where he and Demi could roam free in the game room with a handful of coins.  He loved our weeklong fishing trips to Ocracoke Island and Hatteras and was thrilled to see and touch the Stanley Cup in Toronto in 2002.

 

A final family thanks goes out to the wonderful care teams in the MICU at Atrium Main. We truly could not have felt more confident in their supportive care for Alan and for us. Alan packed a big and interesting life into his 32 years and experienced many of the great joys and deep pain of those who lived longer or who live on. One day we will be rejoined with him in a place filled with joy and love and out of reach of pain, fear, or judgement. Until then, we will all just keep loving you from here.

 

In consideration of his life we ask any that are led to make donations to send them to The Charlotte Rescue Mission Home - Charlotte Rescue Mission or the Red Wolf Coalition. Red Wolf Coalition • Columbia NC

 

The family is planning a Celebration of Life for Alan later in the summer. Details will be provided forthwith.