Hamilton Marston, Jr., 1910-2006
Grandson Hamilton Marston, who succeeded his father Arthur in running Marston's store, inherited George's city planning fervor and he spent decades championing the protection of Balboa Park and for environmentally sensitive growth. From 1944 to 1946, Ham Marston served in the Naval Reserve.

As a co-founder and board member of Citizens Coordinate for Century 3, a group formed in 1961 to monitor and influence growth, Marston helped lead the successful fight against widening to six lanes the scenic Cabrillo Freeway through Balboa Park.

Along with Clare Crane, Lloyd and Elsa Ruocco, Ellen and Roger Revelle, Esther Scott and Dorothea Edmiston, Robert Mosher and Roy Drew, Diane Barlow, and other activists Hamilton nurtured C3 during its first decades, advocating for enlightened city planning.

In 1974, he commissioned the still influential planning study of San Diego called Temporary Paradise?, an update to grandfather George's Nolen Plans, and made sure it was published in English and Spanish for wider public discussion.

Hamilton also sat on the Chamber of Commerce's board of directors four times; he was a founding member of San Diegans, Inc., a quasi-govemmental group organized in the early Sixties to address the problems of the center city; and helped found the Committee for Charter Protection for Parks in 1977.

He believed the best way to honor a family name synonymous with San Diego's heritage was to combine progress with preservation.

Courtesy SOHO Collection