The Marshalls’
Kitchen and Staff
The Episode
Welcome to General and Mrs. Marshall’s kitchen on this episode of “Now & Then at Dodona Manor.” Most of our visitors have two favorite rooms in this house, the library and the kitchen, but it’s always the kitchen that transports many of our guests back to their childhood or to an episode of “I Love Lucy.”
The bright yellow walls, red and white gingham drapes and aluminum appliances always make me want to open the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook and make some delicious pudding or Jell-O. If we could go back in time and peek into this kitchen, what would we see? Well, let’s take a look.
Marshall with Richard Wing
Questions for Thought and Discussion
The Marshalls lived in Dodona Manor from 1941 to 1959, and they had many staff members who helped them around the house and in the kitchen. Although Katherine Marshall helped to plan the meals, she usually didn’t make them. Although Katherine cooked occasionally, a live-in cook was usually responsible for the meals. One of the Marshalls’ favorite cooks, Richard Wing, stayed at Dodona after he had accompanied Marshall to China in 1946. Wing was a sergeant in the U.S. Army and was General Marshall’s cook and orderly at Fort Myer, Virginia, in 1944.
As Marshall orchestrated the Allied victory in Europe and the Pacific, Wing learned more and more about cooking from other professional chefs who had been drafted. After he had been cooking for six months at Quarters 1 in Fort Myer, Wing was invited by Marshall, who was beginning to form his retirement plans, to receive an early discharge or join General and Mrs. Marshall at Dodona Manor. Wing wanted to spend time in Leesburg, so he moved into a room upstairs. The day after Marshall retired, President Truman telephoned, and it was Wing who picked up the phone and heard Truman ask for the general. The president asked Marshall to go to China as a special envoy to forge a coalistion between the Communists and Nationalist parties. While Marshall was on the phone, Wing came back to the kitchen and finished preparing Marshall’s favorite food, leg of lamb.
Photo of Wing and Marshall featured in Life magazine
After dinner, Wing told Marshall that he had lived in China in 1938 and 1939. Marshall said that he was being sent to China in a little over a month, and Wing was to be trained in security, protocol hospitality, and food tasting. Wing became Marshall’s personal security aide and private food taster in China. He was Marshall’s first line of defense against poisoning and also kept his taste buds on the lookout for shrimp, strawberries, and garlic because Marshall was allergic to those foods. Wing’s travels with Marshall would allow him to meet many world leaders and give him an excuse to be in kitchens all over the world.
The Marshalls’ regard for Wing was so great that in October 1959, when Wing was only one month from an honorable discharge, Marshall called him to the State Department for an official photograph. Marshall had mentioned no such thing when he left Dodona a half-hour earlier, but Wing did as he was told. After a limousine ride into Washington, he was greeted in Marshall’s office by a photographer from Time magazine. Marshall's respect for Wing seemed apparent, since the photo that was finally chosen featured the two of them side-by-side in a seemingly "equal" pose.This photo was later signed personally by Marshall and hung in Wing’s internationally acclaimed restaurant, the Imperial Dynasty in California, until its closure in 2006.
Wing probably used this oven and stove, the Marshalls’ General Electric range. You can see that it comes equipped with all of the modern amenities, including a stovetop with pushbutton controls, two ovens, and a storage drawer for your baking sheets. I’m sure that some great meals were made on this stove. And guess what, it still works.
Another item I like to point out is this sink and dishwasher that Katherine Marshall purchased as a set for $250. You might not think that’s a good deal, but most Americans didn’t have a dishwasher in the 1950s. This dishwasher is a replica, but the original one lasted over 30 years.
One of my favorite appliances in the kitchen is this Toastmaster toaster. Legend has it that this toaster was given to the Marshalls as a gift after they opened a bank account with the Loudoun National Bank. The bank building still stands as one of Leesburg’s most impressive examples of Romanesque architecture. It houses a popular restaurant with a private room called the “Marshall dining room”.
Here you can see this cool turquoise box with a crank in the front. What do you think this was used for? If you could look inside, you could see metal gears that turn. It’s an ice crusher that will crunch up large blocks of ice for your evening drink of choice. Marshall’s favorite drink was an Old Fashioned, which includes sugar, bitters, whiskey, and a lemon rind.
Throughout the Marshalls’ time here, they didn’t just have Wing helping them out. The first groundskeeper of record was James, an elderly man who came with the house and lived on the third floor for some years. He was apparently very old, and his disputes with Mrs. Marshall over how to tend her garden and care for her supplies seem to have led to his departure.
During World War II, the Marshalls returned from Mexico with two young Mexican women, Anna Godinez and Sarah de Martinez, and they were delighted with them. They were at Dodona Manor for about two years, when they returned to their families in Mexico City. After them was the year or so tenure of Ray and Paula Hawk, about whom very little is known.
A young woman named Anna Wong was the family’s cook and general housekeeper longer than anyone before or after, returning with Mrs. Marshall from China in 1947 and staying until 1956.. General Marshall always enjoyed her company, and because she did not know English, Marshall was able to use some of the Mandarin he taught himself in the 1920s while stationed in China. We have Anna Wong’s uniform here with us. She would wear this during formal dinners or when the Marshalls were entertaining political or military guests.
In the mid-1950s, the Marshalls employed a young African American couple from Pinehurst, North Carolina, named Floyd and Julia Roy. They were with the Marshalls in Leesburg and Pinehurst for about four years, when they moved to Pinehurst permanently, where they remained until their deaths in the early 2000s.
Stan Carlson (left) with William Heffner (right)
Marshall was also assigned military aides called orderlies, who helped the general answer mail, tend to personal and official business, and act as a chauffeur. Sergeant William J. Heffner was Marshall’s orderly from June 1948 until Marshall’s death in October 1959. When Heffner interviewed for the position, Marshall told him to go to Leesburg, meet Mrs. Marshall, see the house, and take her back to Washington. Heffner said Mrs. Marshall “put the finger on me” and that her approval was necessary for him to get the assignment as orderly.
Heffner did not wear a uniform when he served Marshall, but he did keep one here at the house as he lived on the third floor. We have Heffner’s uniform in our collection and on display for you to see. The patch on the left shoulder signifies the U.S. Army Military District of Washington, the command under which Heffner served. The missions of the unit include ceremonial tasks as well as a combat role in the defense of the National Capital Region.
One of the favorite stories I like to tell about Heffner at Dodona Manor involves a gun and a big mistake. Heffner’s bedroom was directly above General Marshall’s bedroom. He was there one day cleaning his service pistol when it accidentally discharged. The bullet went through the floor and barely missed the bathtub in the Marshalls’ bathroom below. Marshall had just finished taking a bath and had stepped into his bedroom. He was upset, not because of the gun being fired, but because a sergeant who had been trained in the army didn’t know how to clean a weapon, so he retrained Heffner on proper cleaning methods. Heffner’s “punishment” was that he was put in charge of Ellene (Marshall’s step-granddaughter) and had to monitor her. That meant that he had to take her everywhere he went, including trips to drive Marshall to and from the Pentagon. Back then, Route 7 was a single-lane road, and it took an hour and a half to get to the Pentagon.
Bullet hole left by Heffner’s gun
Heffner’s and Wong’s uniforms
Another hilarious story came about when annoying blackbirds were giving Katherine Marshall a headache. A flock of them had roosted in a tree on the north side of the house, and the birds made a loud racket outside the general’s bedroom. He didn’t complain about it, but Katherine told Heffner to get rid of the birds. Using some Army surplus dynamite to scare them away, his plan worked, but it destroyed half the tree. Katherine yelled “idiot” at Heffner as she scolded him, but Marshall thought it was funny.
It’s stories like these that continue to connect people today to the personal lives and misadventures of those who lived and worked here. I hope you enjoyed this special look into Dodona Manor. I’m Cody and I’ll see you on the next ‘Now and Then.”