DOUGLAS MARRIOTT
By Phyllis Marriott
Date 7/03
Age 86

My second beautiful son had me rush him to the Garfield Memorial Hospital in Washington D.C. from our home in Kensington, Maryland by car [with] Candland, Eva’s son, on a beautiful day. I called Dr. [_______] before we left our house and asked him to meet us at the hospital which he did. I truly felt huge and was very glad the time had arrived. We arrived only to get registered at the office with all of my entrance material and then shown to the room. As normal, I was put in bed and the nurse started counting how often my pains were happening and calling the Doctor. After all of these years I am not sure how often I waited, but I can remember it was a normal period of time before we started with the hard bearing down and getting Doug’s head in the right place for entrance into the New World for my little baby. He was my largest child. I had gained quite a little weight, but he was anxious to see what he had ahead of him. He did not cry like many other babies when he was born, and in fact, he did not cry much at all. He was a beautifully formed child and the largest of all I ever had. He was also a very good looking boy and had quite a little brown hair when he was born. My Aunt Clara Brown came to live with us soon after Doug was born. She came from Ogden, Utah, my home where I was born and grew up and went to school until I went to the University of Utah and joined the [Scalessa] Xi Omega Fraternity and went there to live during my years there in college. I remember we had a few problems with Doug’s health at first when he was born, but after some corrections, he was perfect. He was always a very active, talkative and wonderful child and he has grown up to be the exact same way I always depended on this son.

To know Doug is to love him. He never forces himself on you. He is very quiet and not demanding of anyone. If he wants something he really wants it and will work hard to be successful at getting it. I have never known him to brag about what he has been successful in doing or can do. He does not talk about himself often or brag about a success or being important. He is just plain Doug and to find out you must ask questions. He is very friendly and once a friend, always a friend. He is a very happy, friendly boy and very loyal to his friends. You can always depend on him to be loyal in what he says and does and he is very honest in what he does. He has always been known for loving animals and being very kind to them. He has always known right from wrong and tried to teach and how others. As a small boy, he wanted a dog and when one appeared, he loved it. Teaching, training, showing kindness, and really ownership of the dog. Several dogs have been in his life as well as cats, chickens and horses etc. He has never been afraid of them, but takes the dogs to bed with him. While he was still very young, he joined the Cub Scouts and of course I became the Den Mother and with him, loved every minute of it and the association of the Scouting Program and people. Doug organized himself into a group and I soon took Scouting upon myself. What wonderful boys they were and we had lots of learning and good times. Doug went to early Seminary before school and always would attend his meetings and did not have to be coaxed or pleaded with. A good church student, and got his lessons after school immediately and then he would be outside playing with the kids. He had very good energy and played well with everyone. He was known to be cooperative and was not known to cause trouble or be troublesome. He was a very clean boy and kept his clothes in good condition, not throwing them on the floor. He was always a good helper and loved being a part of accomplishing something. He loved the family life and was always a very active part of it. Joined in on everything we did and often thought up things for all of us to do together or go someplace together. When he worked on some job or was helping, he always did a good job and didn’t give up easily. He could always take care of himself and not always get in trouble. He did many things by himself and did not rely on someone else to teach him or help him. He had a mind of his own and used it. He chose to play the drums with the school band and enjoyed this instrument. When they had the school recital, he played the tymphony with the drums and was very good and enjoyed it.
Doug was an independent person and did not always rely on someone else to guide him. He was a very good swimmer and swam at the club at the swimming meets. When we brought Russ’s [ukatee] out, he starting playing on it. He never waited for someone to help him, he would go right ahead and teach himself until he needed help.

Our dogs were name Bambie and Lucky. Doug has always been a very quiet low voiced speaker and he is today.
Fairfield Farm Fiery Run Ranch was a special place where we often spent our weekends and the men rode horses and played horseshoes. Doug always saw to it that he was able to ride one of the horses. How he loved this. We always stayed at the cottage when we went to the farm which was very close to the Mansion House. The couple known as the Farm manager was Mr. and Mrs. Hogue and we all became very good friends. The men and boys often rode the horses over the mountain to get to the farm house where Woody and Judy often spent some time. These were special times for all of us. Often we passed herds of sheep or cattle being moved from pasture to pasture. Uncle Bill and Aunt Allie had about fifteen hundred acres when we first started going there in [19__] and Dad was working at the Hot Shoppe Restaurant in Washington D.C. and Maryland.

Doug always had lots of friends and they went with us when we went to the farm. Doug used to play baseball with his many friends at the dead end street by our house. He also played basketball at the Heller home close by. Winder Heller was his friend. Often they all went over to Martin Hudtloff’s home to play badminton. Coming home from Kensington High School, the boys would always cut through the Glen between Bruck Miller’s and Jacque Gichecter’s homes to go to the creek on Kensington Parkway where they used to play. Doug was always playing any games with Tooey and all of Tooey’s and his friends especially at Bruce Millers where he could climb a ladder and get into the room above the garage. He played often with [_________] a young girl living across the street by the corner of [Bedhill Drive] going up toward Kensington Jr. High School and she played ball with him. He called her a girl-boy (Tomboy). He played on the Kensington Baseball League at the cabin on Kensington Parkway. Dad used to go to the games to watch him pitch. He was good at striking people out. When we had our house painted or someone would come to paint, he always wanted to paint with them and he would. Doug was musical and played the accordion I bought for him. This was because of his association with Bill Reeve and Mrs. Ruth Hudltoff who accordion players played in Florida where she was a professional entertainer. Our next door neighbor was the Dr. Jack Conleys and Doug played and associated with them constantly.

He loved his Dad and always wanted to do everything Russell S. Marriott, Sr. did no matter what it was. As a very small boy, his Dad started him playing golf at the Columbia Country Club where he was a member. It seemed very natural for him to play and before long, he was on the golf course playing golf with friends and neighbors and his Dad. He has always loved this game and it seems to be very natural for him. He has won many trophies at the club and in many tournaments that he has played in and as being one of the Country Clubs teams. Doug also loved to go fishing especially with his Dad who has taught him much about fishing and they go together even today when they can. They tell many tall tales and have had wonderful experiences together. He was involved in everything he could get involved in, he broke one of his front teeth while he was sledding one winter and we had to find a special Dentist to take care of the work. This led us to Dr. Brown Ingersoll who we became best friends with and who helped Doug with his front tooth. Henry and Bill and Barbara have been very good family friends along with Brown and Lorraine. We have spent many hours and days with them at their home at [Rehaboth] Beach, Delaware and they with us at the Farm and in New Hampshire.