Marshall E. Roarick of East Hampton, an outdoorsman, woodworker, business manager, and Air Force veteran, died at home on Jan. 27 at the age of 92.
His love of the outdoors began in his youth, when he worked as a counselor at the Forest Lake Camp in the Adirondacks. In the summers, he taught his family how to camp and canoe on the islands of Saranac Lake, and in the winters they skied together at Loon Mountain Resort in New Hampshire.
Gene Roarick, as he was known, had a long career as the manager of the Southampton Lumber Company. Wherever he went, “Gene always brandished an infectious smile” and “always found time to stop and have a conversation with everyone,” his family wrote.
He was born in Oneonta, N.Y., on June 15, 1931, to Cyril Roarick and the former Helen Osborne. He grew up in Rockville Centre and graduated from the Peddie School in Hightstown, N.J. Later, he earned a bachelor’s degree in business at Duke University, where he enrolled in the Air Force Reserve Officers Training Corps. He went on to serve for two years as an air traffic controller at Briceville Air Force Base in Tennessee.
While on leave here in the summer of 1954, Mr. Roarick’s mother introduced him to Ann Bradford, the daughter of her best friend, Evelyn Talmage. He was a 10th-generation Osborne, and she was an 11th-generation Talmage. They married two years later, settling back in East Hampton in 1959. They went on to celebrate 67 years of marriage before his death. Mrs. Roarick survives.
As a woodworker, he created “many beautiful pieces” that he gifted to his children, his family said.
Mr. Roarick was also a deacon and elder of the East Hampton Presbyterian Church, where a memorial service took place on Feb. 4, officiated by the Rev. Jon Rodriguez. Burial, at the Cedar Lawn Cemetery, was private.
In addition to his wife, Mr. Roarick leaves four children: Victoria Roarick and her husband, Ron, of East Hampton; Marshall Roarick Jr. and his wife, Jackie, of Rotonda West, Fla.; Lee Thumser of Wading River, and Bruce Roarick and his wife, Megan, of Old Saybrook, Conn. A son-in-law, Paul Thumser, died before him. He also leaves five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Memorial donations have been suggested to the East Hampton Presbyterian Church, online at fpceh.org.
