Lorna Marsh, 76, of Lewiston, passed away Wednesday, April 10, 2024, at her home. She was born Lorna Hart to Lorena June Kipp and Frederick Jack Hart at her great-grandmother’s home in Kooskia, April 24, 1947. Her midwife was Ruth Jackson. Her childhood was spent with her great-grandmother, Mabel Blackeagle and her great-great-grandmother, Lizzie Pablo. Lizzie went to school with Rev. Spalding and she taught Lorna her English, ABCs and the states of the union. Her favorite person in the world was her great-grandmother, Mabel, who raised her for the first years of her life. She was her teacher and protector. It was with these two women and her mother she learned a traditional way of life. Lorna got her Indian name from her great-great-grandmother, Lizzie Pablo, which was Ay ya toe ton my.
She attended Kooskia Grade School for the first six years. Her mother was killed in a car accident when she was 10 and her father married her second mother, Ethel Jackson Seubert. They moved to Walla Walla where she went to school and later back to Grangeville. As a teenager she went to school in Oklahoma and attended Chilocco Indian School where she graduated in 1965. She attended Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston for a short time, then to Riverside University and graduated with an accounting degree from Portland State University in 1974. She was the first Native student to receive a scholarship from the Internal Revenue Service to attend PSU. She, in return, worked as an IRS agent after graduation. She also worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Portland while attending college.
In 1975, Lorna married Doug Marsh at First Church in Kamiah. The Marshes moved home to Idaho from Portland in 1978 to the home Lorna’s father and mother built at her grandmother’s home in Kooskia. In 1979, they bought Marsh’s Trading Post in Kamiah. In 1982, Lorna opened Lorna’s Antiques on Main Street in Lewiston. In 1985, the Marshes sold Marsh’s Trading Post in Kamiah and moved it to the present location in Lewiston where she remained employed until retirement.
Lorna served on the Nez Perce Gaming Commission and as a gaming commissioner. She was also involved with the Nez Perce Historical Society, Nez Perce Centennial Commission and the Nez Perce County Agricultural Commission.
Lorna was recognized as an elder for the Stites Long House. She enjoyed working and teaching the cooks how to prepare traditional foods. Besides her grandmothers, she had been tutored by Almeta Stevens, Anges Johns, Dorcus Miller and others while cooking for dinners, root feasts and traditional dinners throughout her life at home.
She was predeceased by all her family including siblings: brothers Frederick, Joseph and Chester Lee; and sisters: Laura Joyce and Andra Seubert. She is survived by her husband, Doug Marsh; children Lorena Talbot (Dennis) of Moses Lake, Wash., and Justin Marsh (Rochelle) of Spokane. She has five grandchildren: Mya Marsh Dammon, Mason Marsh Dammon, Isaiah Marsh, Violet Marsh and Kasiah Wilson. She also has many beloved nieces and nephews.
A memorial service will be held at 5 p.m. Sunday, April 14, at Trenary Funeral Home, 18 First Ave., Kooskia. The graveside commital will take place at 10 a.m. Monday, April 15, at Pine Grove Cemetery, Kooskia.
