Koscie Harlow Marsh (1902-1969)

From the Minnesota Voter's Guide, 1954.

  An obscure resident of St. Paul, Minnesota, Koscie Harlow Marsh was a three-time Democratic Farmer-Labor candidate for Minnesota Secretary of State between 1948 and 1954, and despite the dearth of resources mentioning him, is certainly worthy of a profile here! The son of Edward Thomas and Emma Lavina (Lirely) Marsh, Koscie Harlow Marsh was born in Emmetsburg, Palo Alto County, Iowa on October 12, 1902. While little information exists on Marsh's formative years and early education, it is known that he was a graduate of the University of Minnesota and, after resettling in that state, was employed as a druggist in the St. Paul area.

  On Christmas Day 1938 Koscie Marsh married to Amy Olivia Roseland Asleson (1906-1995), to who he was wed until his death in 1969. The couple would remain childless. Active in the civic life of St. Paul, Marsh was a member of the Eagles and Moose Lodges, the American Legion, Disabled American Veterans, and the local Masonic chapter. Sources denote Marsh as a veteran of WWII, being a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army, though no information could be found as to his area of deployment or term of enlistment.

   A longstanding member of Minnesota's Democratic Farmer Labor party, Koscie Marsh won that party's nomination for Secretary of State of Minnesota in the 1948 primary and that November opposed longtime Republican incumbent Mike Holm. Despite a strong showing that November with 447,028 votes, Marsh lost out to Holm, who polled 746,678 votes. Holm continued service until his death in office in 1952 and was later succeeded by his wife Virginia, who was appointed to the post.

  With Holm's 1952 death, an election was held to choose his successor, and that year Koscie Marsh again was a candidate for that office. After winning the Democratic Farmer Labor primary in September with 82,650 votes, Marsh lost the general election to Virginia Holm, who served as secretary until her own defeat in November 1954. In the last-named year, Marsh made a third run for office but went down to defeat in that year's primary, losing to Joseph L. Donovan by a 140,000 vote margin.

   Koscie Harlow Marsh's life after 1954 largely remains a mystery, excepting notice of his being the executive secretary of the Greater Forest Lake Association (GFLA) in the late 1950s. He died in Minnesota on February 15, 1969, aged 66 and was survived by his wife Amy. Following her own death in 1995 she was interred alongside her husband at the Fort Snelling National Cemetery in Minneapolis.