SUFFOLK — Marshall Alvin Beaton Sr., 93, passed away April 29, 2014. He was born in Sedley, the son of the late Stafford Marshall and Erma Bradshaw Beaton, and was predeceased by two brothers, Milton and Willard Beaton, and one sister, Edith Simms. Marshall was a Navy veteran of World War II and a member of Hillcrest Baptist Church. He was a retired farmer and had farmed in Southampton and Nansemond counties, and in later years, he had been a regional mail truck driver. Marshall had been a member of Young Farmers Association and the Woodmen of the World.

Marshall was a true Southern gentleman and a soft-spoken man that will be greatly missed. He leaves to cherish his memory his wife of 71 years, Imo Simms Beaton; two daughters, Martha Ellen Matthews and her husband, Elwood, of Chambersburg, Pa., and Sandra Kaye Davis and her husband, Cecil, of Chesapeake; two sons, Marshall A. Beaton Jr. and his wife, Glinda, of Amelia, and T. Edward Beaton and his wife, Lesa, of Virginia Beach; 12 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren.

The funeral will be held at 3 p.m. Saturday, May 3, at Wright Funeral Home, 206 W. Fourth Ave., Franklin, with the Rev. Jim George and the Rev. Dr. Charles W. Thompson officiating. Burial with military honors will follow at Rosemont Cemetery, Sedley. The family will receive friends from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Friday at the funeral home and one hour prior to the service on Saturday. Memorial donations may be made to Hillcrest Baptist Church, 1637 Holland Road, Suffolk, VA 23434 or your local American Cancer Society. www.wrightfuneralhome.org.