Marsh’s faith led him to police work

Mary Meaux
The Port Arthur News

PORT NECHES May 19, 2008 01:58 pm

— THE FACTS
WHO: Port Neches Police Chief Gene Marsh
WHAT: Retirement reception
WHEN: 3 to 5 p.m. May 23 WHERE: Courtroom inside the police station

Port Neches Police Chief Gene Marsh has followed his calling for just more than 38 years and will soon put away his badge and move to the next path in his life.
Marsh, 60, will officially retire his post on May 23. A reception will be held in his honor from 3 to 5 p.m. in the courtroom inside the police station.
“I don’t consider it retirement, instead of retiring I think of it as graduation,” he said. “I’ll probably look at other law enforcement opportunities, maybe as a consultant or interim. I’m not a piddler.”
His long tenure as an officer doesn’t go unnoticed by fellow officers and employees in the police station. He is known as a private person with high moral standards and Christian values.
Cap. Paul Lemoine has worked with Marsh since 1986.
“He instilled in me a sense of integrity and honesty and is probably the most upstanding and ethical person I know,” Lemoine said. “His career has followed a different path than mine, I’m a hands-on person, he’s investigatory. I’m tactical. We compliment each other.”
Lemoine said Marsh put complete faith in him and has helped him move his career forward. During Lemoine’s time at the department Marsh moved the police schedule around to allow Lemoine time to attend college full time and work his police hours as well.
Besides being department head over the police, Marsh is also a friend to the officers. On the anniversary of the day officers are hired, Marsh makes it a point to treat that person out to lunch at The Pompano Club and pay for the meal himself, Lemoine said.
City Manager Randy Kimler will announce an interim police chief next week with the approval of city council. Lemoine may be named interim at that time. He thanks Marsh for the training, preparation and support.
A devoted employee, Marsh has not missed a day of work in 38 years, secretary Brenda Redman said.
“It’s been a pleasure working with chief,” she added.
The closing of a local bakery may have led him towards a job as a police officer but God’s divine plan kept the Nederland native on a path that led towards a 38 year career in law enforcement.
Working at Tasty Bread Company while studying biology and chemistry in college, Marsh had once worked towards a career as a dentist. But a higher force was watching, the business closed and moved to Houston and the young man needed a job.
Marsh was accepted into dental school but in the summer of 1969 his father died in an industrial accident, he said. His mother had contracted polio at a time before vaccines were available and the young man chose to stay in school and in the area.
“Dental school didn’t seem right for me then,” he said from his pristine office inside the police station recently.
He applied at a Beaumont newspaper and a few other places before meeting with the police chief at that time, Charles Bennefield, about a job as a Port Neches police officer.
Bennefield hired Marsh even though he did not like to hire single men. Since Marsh was engaged to be married that spring, Bennefield took a chance that paid off. Marsh finished graduate school with a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in biology.
“But I never got away from being a police officer,” he said.
Later, at the age of 32, Marsh began to question his career path.
“I began to wonder whether or not I made the right decision,” he said. “I had a young family by then and wondered if I should stay in law enforcement or not.”
Marsh, a devout Christian, found his answer in The Living Bible, Romans 13: 3-5, which describes the job of a police officer, calling them “God’s servants.”
“If you talk to most officers they feel police work is more of a calling then a job,” he said as he placed the Bible on his desk. “From that point on I began to embrace God’s purpose for me to be a police officer. Men usually have that time in life when they question what they are doing, mine was at 32 and I’ll always be at peace in what I do.”
Lemoine shares Marsh’s sentiments.
“He made me realize police work is a calling and since then a calmness came over me and I know I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing,” Lemoine said.
Marsh’s deep faith has led him to mission trips in Africa and Peru with more trips scheduled this summer. For recreation he has plans for a cruise to Alaska with his wife Billie, a visit to the beach and even a trip along the Pan-American Highway with a brother-in-law. He also plans to spend some time with his two children and two grandchildren.
Other hobbies include reading and gardening. The chief is known to cook up fresh produce from his garden and bring a dish to work for the office to try.
And even though it has been nearly four decades since he first put on the uniform of an officer, he still remembers his first night at work.
“I had the evening shift and Capt. W.J. Clark was the training officer,” he said. “Remember, I had absolutely zero experience as a police officer. Clark put me driving the car and within about two minutes we saw someone run a red light.”
The training officer felt this was a good time for Marsh to give his first ticket.
“I gave out my first ticket within about three minutes of becoming a police officer,” he said.

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