Marshall, Louise Henriette Foucar, 1864-1956

Louise Henriette Foucar was born in 1864, the daughter of a wealthy Boston family that had emigrated from Germany. Louise studied in France, Italy and Switzerland but her health was poor and she searched for a place with a better climate to live. After stints in El Paso, Texas and Mexico City, in 1890 she moved to Denver, Colorado and earned two degrees at the University of Denver. While in Denver, she developed tuberculosis and heart problems and in 1898 she moved again, this time to the warmer climate and lower elevation of Tucson.

She came to the University of Arizona as a graduate student in the academic year of 1898-1899; she became an instructor the next year and in 1900, at the age of 36, she became the school's first woman professor. She taught Botany and a host of languages, including English, French, Latin and Spanish, and in 1901 she was named head of the Department of Ancient and Modern Languages.

Louise began to buy and develop properties near the expanding university campus using money inherited from her parents and in 1903, she resigned her teaching position at the university to focus full time on her business pursuits.

In 1904, she married Thomas Marshall, a former student, in El Paso, Texas. They lived in the brick house Louise built on a large two-acre lot on East Second St.

In addition to developing and managing residential properties Louise developed a block of businesses across from the university's main entrance that became Tucson's first suburban shopping center, University Square. She owned and managed a gift shop located in the square and was appointed by the Governor to serve on the Arizona Board of Regents.

Louise continued to develop properties and she and Tom used the growing revenue to create the private, not-for-profit corporation known as Marshall Charitable Foundation on Jan. 16, 1930. They created the first private foundation in Arizona, one that would, in Louise's words, "carry on our work when we are gone."

Despite Louise's business success, her marriage to Tom began to deteriorate. There were persistent rumors about his affair with an ex-housekeeper and the mysterious cause of Louise's prolonged illness. After weeks of tests, doctors finally determined that she had been poisoned. On the night of April 27, 1931 Louise shot her husband four times at point blank range.

Thomas Marshall died three weeks later at a Los Angeles hospital and Louise was charged with first-degree murder. The trial became a media sensation, attracting newspaper coverage and bold headlines around the country. Louise pleaded guilty by reason of temporary insanity, one the very first legal cases to include this novel defense, claiming that she shot her husband because of fear that she was being poisoned. The jury acquitted her on the first-degree murder charge after deliberating less than half an hour.

After her acquittal, Louise rededicated herself to managing her extensive real estate holdings and promoting the work of the new Marshall Charitable Foundation. She took over day-to-day operations and began working in concert with a newly-appointed board of directors. Her participation in foundation activities continued until her death in 1956 at the age of 92.

When she died Louise Marshall bequeathed her personal property to Wilma Peters, widow of Ivan Peters, the Marshall's longtime property manager, Foundation president, and personal friend. After Mrs. Peters died her daughter Patricia Stephenson maintained the collection.

Thomas Keith Marshall was born on August 3, 1870 in Kansas. After leaving home he traveled around the country, working first as a farm laborer, then a miner. In 1899 he ended up at the University of Arizona where he enrolled, at the age of 29, in the preparatory department because of his lack of a high school record. While at the University Tom played on the first football team ever fielded by the University of Arizona and found a job on campus as a gardener and laborer. Tom also became an avid photographer during this time. In 1903 he began working as a maintenance man for Professor Louise Foucar and she soon named him manager for her growing real estate holdings. He left the University in 1903 without ever earning a degree.

In 1904 Tom proposed marriage to Louise and she accepted. They were quietly married in El Paso. Early in their marriage the Marshalls worked on several joint business projects together. In the early teens, Tom and Louise began to grow apart and each became more engrossed in their own pursuits, in Tom's case journalism and then later, politics. He served as a delegate to launch the Roosevelt candidacy, and became active in Arizona state politics as a member of the Progressive Party. He became active in the temperance movement and enjoyed traveling all over the state to give talks on both Progressive politics and the temperance movement. In 1915, he wrote and published a 73 page book entitled, Prohibition in Arizona: The First Six Months of Prohibition in Arizona and its Effect Upon Industry, Savings and Municipal Government.

Just after midnight on April 27, 1931 Louise Marshall shot her husband with a small caliber pistol while he lay sleeping. Tom was immediately taken to a local hospital and then later transferred to a hospital in Los Angeles, where he developed an infection after an unsuccessful operation to remove one of the bullets. He died on May 20, 1931.

From the description of Louise Foucar Marshall and Tom Marshall Collection, 1888-1972, (bulk 1900-1953). (University of Arizona). WorldCat record id: 676924368