Staff photo / Bob Coupland Loyd Marshall of Gustavus, 81, recently was awarded the Cardinal Conservation Award from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources for his volunteer efforts at Mosquito Lake State Park and the different projects he has done there.

GUSTAVUS — Loyd Marshall was born in January 1944 at his parents’ home in Farmdale and was delivered by his paternal grandfather, who was a doctor also named Loyd Marshall.

Marshall recently received two special statewide honors: The Cardinal Conservation Award for his love of nature and his volunteer efforts over the past 15 years at Mosquito Lake State Park, and the Blue Feather Award from the Ohio Bluebird Society for promoting bluebirds to the public. He was the only one in the state to receive the latter award. Three others received the Cardinal Conservation Award.

Marshall’s love of nature was inherited from his father, Robert, who worked in a greenhouse and did gardening as a hobby. His mother, Wilda, was the night cook at the Times Square Restaurant in Kinsman, which is still in business.

Although he was raised in Farmdale, Marshall said it is technically Kinsman Township.

“Kinsman was 5 square miles, and they cut off a little bit to make Farmdale, but it’s really Kinsman Township. And the reason they cut it off is Kinsman was kind of the town part and Farmdale had the railroad and different things like that. That was way back and that’s how they got two zip codes,” Marshall said.

He’s been married for 60 “good” years to Irene Flora and they raised four children — two boys and two girls. They also have six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Like many people his age, Marshall made a living and supported his family as an engineer at Packard Electric in Warren.

“After the children came, my wife was able to stay home with them and run the household,” he said.

He retired from Packard in 2001 after 36 years.

It wasn’t long until he began trying various activities to remain active.

Marshall has worked with the state park, Trumbull County Soil and Water Conservation District and the Army Corps of Engineers on wildlife projects.

“I have always had an interest in birds, nature and the outdoors. After I retired as an engineer from Delphi, I began volunteering at the park. I always looked for programs about nature,” he said.

He found his niche in the spring of 2010 when the cavity bird nesting program started at the state park. He has helped with nesting programs for the prothonotary warbler and bluebirds, which have nests at the park. Marshall also has been involved with the Christmas bird count and counts for bald eagles and sandhill cranes.

Jamison Conley, park ranger for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said prothonotary warbler nesting and the bluebird program have developed at Berlin Lake and Shenango Lake, which were modeled after what Marshall has done at Mosquito Lake Park.

Now 81, Marshall has decided that it is time to cut back on his volunteering.

“I still want to stay involved at the park, not as the chief, but as an Indian,” Marshall said during a previous interview. “Last year I had a bad year. I’m OK now though, I just don’t have time. Plus I think it’s time, before I’m a blithering idiot, that somebody else takes over.”

Marshall and his wife enjoy taking river cruises and visiting with family throughout Ohio, which he will have more time for now.