Diann Marsh (1935-2024)

Diann Marsh with some of her illustrations of historic Anaheim, circa 1980.

One of Orange County's great historians and historical preservationists, Diann Carol Marsh, passed away on February 18, 2024 at the age of 88. 

I didn’t know Diann as well as some of my mentors and slightly older colleagues did, but I was lucky enough to hang out with her several times when she made return visits to California. And we emailed back and forth periodically on matters historical. She was always a font of knowledge and offered encouraging words. And of course, her books are – and will remain -- a vital resource for all of us in this field. 

Residents of several local communities know of Diann’s specific contributions in their own backyards. But she actually had a major impact on the local history and preservation scene throughout Orange County.

Robert & Diann at the Tustin High School prom.

Diann was born on July 15, 1935, in Peoria, to Eldon and Virginia (Taylor) Travis. The family moved to Tustin, California in 1952 and Diann Travis would attend Tustin High School. The following year, she married her high school sweetheart, Robert G. Marsh and they moved into a modern home in North Santa Ana. However, what they really wanted was a historic home. It would be a while before that would happen.

By 1962 they were living in another modern home in Garden Grove, but with a growing family, they wanted to find a more “wholesome life” in the country. That year, the Marshes moved to a small ranch near Norco in Riverside County. There, her children had “plenty of room to run and play,” and the family maintained a veritable petting zoo of peacocks, chickens, goats, pigs, dogs, cats, turkeys, ducks, rabbits, and even a couple cows. 

In 1969 they moved again to a tract house in Corona, but the beautiful houses in the town’s nearby adjacent historic core reminded them of their desire for a historic home of their own. They loved the community of Corona, and were active in their church, the Indian Guides and Maidens, the P.T.A. and the Corona Art Association. 

When the gasoline shortage of 1973-’74 hit, it was decided that Robert needed live closer to his job.  So the Marsh family moved back to Orange County. 

321 N. Philadelphia St., Anaheim, circa 2023.

In 1975 they finally made their dream of owning a historic home a reality when they moved into 321 N. Philadelphia St. in Anaheim. This 1903 transitional Bungalow is known as the “Backs Honeymoon Cottage,” as it had been built as a gift from newspaper publisher Richard Melrose to his daughter, Jessie Melrose Backs, and her new husband, Fred Backs. Researching the home’s history only intensified Diann’s love of historic buildings and she took the role of architectural historian like a duck to water.

Diann and Robert soon joined the Orange County Historical Society. Diann would remain an active member of the Society as long as she lived in California. She made presentations before the Society on at least ten occasions, organized events, and contributed to many of their publications. Robert also served on the Executive Committee of the OCHS Board.

Over the years, Diann also served on the boards of the Santa Ana Historical Preservation Society, the Santa Ana Communication Linkage, the El Dorado Ranch Committee, and the Historic French Park Association. She was member of the Orange County Historical Commission (representing the 1st District) and the Santa Ana Historic Resources Review Committee. In 1983, Diann was the Coordinator of the California State Historic Preservation Conference. She was also a major contributor to the countywide effort to celebrate the Orange County’s centennial in 1989 – contributing a great deal of research and writing.

Diann Marsh (in red) with some fellow Orange County historians, 2009. L to R: Keith Dixon, Bill Hendricks, Phil Brigandi, Diann Marsh, Pamela Hallan-Gibson, Don Dobmeier, John Elliott. Seated: Jim Sleeper and Esther Cramer.

According to her friend and fellow writer Peggy Stortz, "In 1975, she was hired to do a historic survey of Escondido, Calif. For twenty-two years, she was a Historic Preservation Consultant. She provided architectural profiles for over 10,000 buildings in fifteen cities [throughout Southern California] and authored National Register applications for over 500 buildings and ten districts." 

As a historical architecture consultant, she sometimes worked through her own Marsh & Associates company, and other times in the employ of consulting firms like Thirtieth Street Architects of Newport Beach. 

Along with Andy Deneau, in 1976, Diann founded the Anaheim Historical Society – which, together with the efforts of the Anaheim Neighborhood Association, are the only reason ANY of the remaining bits of Downtown Anaheim survive today. She’s still a big enough deal there that she was made Grand Marshall in the Anaheim Halloween Parade several years ago. And the AHS continues to be a valuable part of the community.

Diann's illustration of an earlier incarnation of St Boniface Catholic Church, Anaheim.

Diann was also a gifted artist, known for her oil and watercolor paintings and her intricate pen and ink architectural illustrations. She studied art at Riverside and Chaffey Colleges and privately with professional artists. Her works were exhibited throughout the country, won prizes at the Orange County Fair, and graced many local history publications.

In 1985, the Marshes bought another historic home -- this time an 1883 Italianate Victorian in Santa Ana's French Park neighborhood. Former Anaheim City Preservation Officer Phyllis Mueller writes, “The Marshes sold their Philadelphia Street house to Keith and Judith Olesen, who themselves would soon become leaders in saving their neighborhood."

Diann and Robert bought their Santa Ana house for $10, moved it to a vacant lot five blocks away at 321 East 8th Street, restored it, and (in 1987) moved in. Their garden was decorated with elements of many historic buildings from Anaheim that had met their doom in redevelopment. To the house itself, she added stained glass windows from the old Zion Lutheran Church of Anaheim. 

The Marsh home at 321 East 8th St., Santa Ana, May 2024. (Photo by author)

“An old house has character just like a living person,” Diann wrote. “Over the years it has acquired its own personality. The joys and sadnesses of long ago linger in the halls. …Owning an old house is an unique experience, full of surprises, joys, problems and challenge. The fun of researching your own home at the library, of finding old bottles under the house left from the ’38 flood, making old woodwork glow, picking camellias from the bushes as big as trees far outweighs the problems.”

In 1998, the Marshes left California and moved into another historic home in history-rich Galena, Illinois. There, Diann continued her work -- albeit with a different geographic focus. Orange County's great loss was clearly Galena’s tremendous gain.

The Marsh home at 309 Park Ave, Galena, Ilinois, 2023.

Diann was involved in local historical, preservation and re-enactment groups in Galena, including volunteering at the Galena & U.S. Grant History Museum and at President Grant's home. She was also involved in the local arts council, Ex Libris Writers, the Galena Writers Guild, was a founding member of the Galena Center for the Arts, and served as clerk for the board of Grace Episcopal Church. In short, she took to her newly adopted hometown like a duck to water and was a big success there. And it seems the people of Galena loved her back.

In addition to her many articles, essays, short stories, editing and illustrating credits, and chapters in anthologies, Diann published at least eleven history books including:

• Santa Ana... An Illustrated History
• Huntington Beach: The Gem of the South Coast
• Anaheim's Architectural Treasures
• Anaheim's Colorful Heritage
• Corona, the Circle City: An Illustrated History
• Galena Illinois A Brief History
• Images of America: Galena

I don’t know enough about Corona or Galena history to speak to her books on those subjects, but her Santa Ana book is still a very well-respected resource, and her Huntington Beach book is, hands-down, still the best book on the subject. Robert served as editor and/or photo editor on most, if not all, of these books.

Diann and Robert Marsh, circa 1990s.

According to the Galena Gazette, “Diann is survived by her husband, Robert; their children: Elaine (Paul) Rumaker, Randy (Elaine) Marsh, Kevin Paul (Vivian) Marsh, Eric (fiancée Andrea) Marsh, Ginger Huff, and Rodney Marsh. She also leaves 10 grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren; a brother-in-law, Ethan; and two sisters-in-law, Sharon Fauber and Louise Jones. Diann was preceded in death by her parents; a daughter, Robin, in 1997; an infant son, Kevin Andrew; one brother, Glenn; and a sister, Elizabeth.”

I feel lucky to have known her – albeit mostly from afar and through her excellent body of work.

Diann Marsh with the author, Chris Jepsen, at the Orange County Historical Society, 2012.

And finally, in addition to my own thoughts, I wanted to pass along the following tribute from Diann's fellow local Anaheim historian, Cynthia Ward:

Diann Marsh was one of the people who shaped the person I became as an adult. 

Back when dinosaurs still roamed the earth… my Girl Scout troop was tasked with studying Anaheim history to complete a badge on our community. Diann Marsh and Andy Deneau, at the brand-new Anaheim Historical Society, very kindly stepped up to create a map, with notes on the locations, to guide our troop on a bicycle tour of old Anaheim. I don’t recall all the buildings. But I do recall the old Concordia Hall on Broadway, which at the time was used as the Pepper Tree Faire craft and antique mall. Today the lot is a storage yard for a landscape company. Such is progress. 

We were told to look for the hitching rings embedded in the alley-side of the old City Hall, and I remember somewhere with weaving looms and spinning wheels. 

Both Andy Deneau and Diann Marsh opened their personal homes to us. Oddly enough, Andy Deneau’s home was built by the parents of Fred Backs, who owned Diann’s home. Andy’s elegant Backs House had not yet been relocated (against his will) by the Redevelopment Agency, and the sprawling home sat so graciously on its large lot with mature gardens on Claudina Street. Diann’s charming Backs Honeymoon Cottage one block away was a work in progress, but it captured my imagination. I realized on that day I would never again be comfortable in a new tract house. The creak of old floors, the old-house-smell that can’t be described but can only be experienced, it was like coming home to a place I already knew and loved. My heart had been opened in a whole new way.

Many years later, my husband and I pursued that passion for ourselves, and took on the first of our Money Pit old-house projects. By then Diann had moved to Galena, but my time at the Heritage Services Reading Room made me aware of her work and I realized this was the woman who had so kindly fanned the flames of my early history-nerd heart. I was able to meet Diann a few times when she visited. By then I was serving as President of the Anaheim Historical Society, and we honored Diann with a special recognition during one of her trips back to California. (Note to future generations, do not design a crystal award for someone flying halfway across country to get it home.) 

Ward with one of her own "Money Pit" preservation projects, 2005.

Diann was also able to see the merger between the Anaheim Historical Society and the old Mother Colony Household, Inc., which had been contentious opponents in her day, in the battle between the “old guard” who often owned the old buildings being torn down for profit, and the “upstarts” trying to save it all from the wrecking-ball. Thanks to people like Diann, preservation won at least some of the war. 

Today, nearly that entire generation of historians has left us, and even some of our younger co-conspirators, like our beloved Phil Brigandi, have gone on to the Great Archives that await us all. But I hope that our generation can remember those who came before us, people like Diann who nurtured the love of these lived-in, loved-in places we treasure. We need to repay that time and effort they gave to us and find ways to reach out to the next generation that will someday inherit what we, in turn, have preserved. 

Thank you, Diann, for everything. You are missed. 

CW

[Blogger's Note: My thanks to Cynthia Ward, Guy Ball, Phyllis Mueller, and Roberta Reed, who each played a roll in this small  tribute.]