Marccus Marsh will be the last of Bernie and Paulette Marsh's eight children to graduate from Dickinson Catholic Schools on Sunday, but he is not the last in the family to go through the school system.
Maranda, who graduated from Trinity High School in 2000, has her two daughters, Eliza, 6, and Nora, 3, enrolled in Dickinson Catholic Schools. Marleah, who graduated from THS in 2005, also has her daughter, Emma, 3, enrolled.
"Me and all my kids had the same fourth-grade teacher," Paulette said. "We're all really proud of that."
The teacher they shared is Arlene Hondl, who is now a substitute teacher for DCS and has already taught Eliza.
"She loves telling the class 'Mrs. Hondl was my mommy's and my grandma's teacher,'" Hondl said. "Then the kids all look at me like 'Oh my!'"
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Hondl said she feels "honored and privileged" to have taught three generations of Marshes.
"They're a close family, from what I've observed," she said. "They were good students and they worked hard, especially Paulette. I had her the first year they moved here from Montana."
After seven Marsh siblings before him -- Marissa, Maranda, Marriah, Matthew, Marleah, Maxsonn and Marinna -- Marccus said by the time he entered DCS, they had already formed a reputation for him.
"There was definitely a bar set," Marccus said. "Teachers would say, 'Oh, you're just like your brother,' and sometimes I'd take that as a compliment, other times I'd take it as an offense."
He has enlisted in the Marine Corps and will be headed to boot camp this summer. If he begins his own family, he hopes to carry on the tradition and enroll his children in a catholic school.
"I can't say for a fact that I'll be in Dickinson after the Marine Corps, but if I could find one like Trinity, without a doubt," Marccus said. "It helped me in so many ways -- in my faith and my own personal knowledge."
Many in the Marsh family talked about how DCS is like a family.
"We loved the way the teachers loved our family," Paulette said.
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They enrolled their first child, Marissa, into St. Wenceslaus School in 1987, shortly after purchasing Bernie's Esquire Club and moving to Dickinson.
"It was a choice of public school or catholic school and Bern's dad said, 'Whenever there's a catholic school, there's not a choice of where to send them,'" Paulette said.
She and Bernie also liked the smaller class sizes.
"I think they had more advantages at the catholic school," Bernie said.
Maranda wanted to enroll in public school for her senior year, but is glad her parents kept her at THS.
"She also wanted to trade in her brothers and sisters for a new bike and we wouldn't let her do that either," Paulette said with a laugh.
Maranda was unsure where to enroll her children so she tried DCS for a year.
"Eliza loved her teacher, she met all of her friends and we just stuck with it," Maranda said. "As long as it goes good, I'll stick with it."
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Kelly Koppinger, superintendent of DCS, said the support the Marshes have given the system is appreciated.
"The students in the system have been participants in a wide variety of aspects from drama to athletics to academic quiz bowl settings," Koppinger said. "Having eight of them there, it was eight different personalities and they all had their strengths in areas that made us stronger."
