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RIDGELY – Marquis “Cat” Roberts may not have nine lives, but he’s thankful for all the second chances he’s been given.
As a teen and younger adult, when Marquis encountered cops in Easton, he was usually on the wrong side of the law. Today, the same law enforcement officer who knew him so well back then is one of his best friends and fellow firefighter.
What happened? How did such a wayward youth find his way from felon to friend?
A lot of second chances, Marquis said. He credits other key people who encouraged him, never gave up on him and continue to guide him today. They include his “Big Brother” Rob Etgen, Easton Police Officer Eric Kellner, his wife Kathy Roberts and his employer and friend Dave Tribbett.
A Big Brother’s support
In 1994 Rob Etgen was paired up with his 9-year-old “little brother” Marquis. Meeting every Wednesday for years, the two bonded over golf, fishing, field trips and family gatherings, with the blessing of Marquis’ mom Elizabeth Roberts.
Before Marquis was nicknamed Catfish by friends and then “Cat,” which stuck, he was “Brother Osprey” while Etgen was “Brother Otter.” The terms of endearment resulted from their dozen or so visits to the powwows held by the Nause-Waiwash Tribe. “They just had some sort of bond with him,” Rob said.
As Marquis grew older, however, he began to get in trouble. “I did have a rough start as an adolescent,” he said. “I grew up just almost doing what I wanted. My mom was there, and then my big brother Rob came into my life. That was my father figure growing up, and even though I had him, I still decided to do the not-so-right things.”
Rob would take a break from his job as executive director of the Eastern Shore Land Conservancy in Easton to sit in on discussions with parole officer Corey Pack and Judge William Adkins.
“I just always felt my role was to be supportive,” Rob said. “So as he made those decisions, I just tried to be there to help support him when the house of cards would fall.”
Also bonding with Marquis was Rob’s large family. “Marquis has always just been a part of my family, too,” Rob said. “I'm one of six kids, so all of my brothers and my one sister all treat Marquis as a brother, and my parents treated him as a son. He’s just one of the family, a very loved part of our family.”
For Rob, relationships are the “core of life.”
“Building relationships with people that aren't like you, whether it's age or whether it's race or socioeconomics, are … important, because you learn so much from those relationships,” Rob said. “So I would say, selfishly, for me, the mentoring relationship was just a great education, nothing but joy for me.”
To this day, Rob takes Marquis on their annual fishing trip to celebrate Marquis’ birthday. Accompanying them on a kayak fishing trip about five years ago was Eric Kellner.
From felon to friend
Eric was a young rookie officer with the Easton Police Department when he first encountered 18-year-old Marquis. Once, on bicycle patrol, “I had to tackle him in a gas station parking lot,” he said. “We had several run-ins over the years.”
Eric, who lives in Ridgely, is vice president of the Ridgely Volunteer Fire Department and has been a member since 1998. One night, on the way back to the station following a call, Eric heard a new town resident was interested in joining.
“And then they said, ‘Well, here he is right there. And Marquis walked in, and we kind of locked eyes for a second,” he said. “I think he was just as shocked to see me as I was to see him.
Marquis told Eric that he moved to Ridgely with his then-girlfriend Kathy Bradley “to remove himself from some of his associates that weren't into good things, and he kind of wanted a fresh start, and he wanted to do something positive with his life,” Eric said.
“I just got tired of doing the same thing over and over again,” Marquis said.
Eric was concerned. He told Marquis he didn’t know if he could trust him, and he knew the fire department would do a background check. But he made the commitment to vouch for Marquis, warning him, “‘If you're serious about turning your life around, if you want to do something positive, I'll support you,’ I said, ‘But don't screw me over. Don't make me look like a fool for this.’ And he was like, ‘I won't, I promise.’”
“So we got him voted in, and to be honest with you, we've just become really good friends,” Eric said. “So it's a complete 180.”
“Eric gave me a chance, and I took it and ran with it, and I did the best that I can do,” Marquis said. To this day, they joke about Marquis’ brushes with the law and Eric’s role in bringing him to justice.
“I'm very proud of him,” Eric said. “I mean, he's married, he takes care of his family, works hard, volunteers. It's a blessing, for sure.”
Creating a home
Kathy met Marquis when she was a teenager. She lived in Denton but worked for her mother at the Easton McDonald’s her mother managed for over 30 years.
Marquis and Kathy worked there together for a couple of years. They moved in the same circle of friends when Kathy moved to Easton after graduating from North Caroline High School in 2003, earning a state license to practice nail art.
They were in their late 20s when Marquis began pursuing Kathy for a date. He was persistent, but she drew a red line: either he would stop getting in trouble, or she would be gone. He made up his mind to change.
“I had to make a decision. Yes, she pushed, but at the end of the day, I still had to make the decision,” Marquis said. “We moved to Ridgely, which was the greatest idea of everything, because it moved me away from all my old friends, my hometown and stuff.”
“I think he wanted to change himself, but never really had the push,” Kathy said. Friends credited her for motivating Marquis to take the first steps towards his fulfilling journey.
“He didn't have a car, he didn't have a driver's license. He had nothing,” Kathy said. “I feel like he needed to find something to kind of occupy his time.” When Marquis announced, “I think I'm gonna join the firehouse” nine years ago, Kathy was incredulous.
Marquis took the bus back to Easton to his jobs packaging pharmaceuticals at Konsyl and as a bouncer at the Washington Street Pub for four years. He was paying child support on minimum wage pay and trying to make ends meet. “I just had to keep working. I knew that I had to keep working,” he said.
Always highly motivated herself, Kathy said she saw in him the drive to succeed and want something different for his life and family.
Marquis found a job closer to home and soon afterwards got his driver’s license, and then a car. His pay increased. Each step forward was proof others were willing to take a chance on him, he said.
Landing on both feet
About eight years ago, Ridgely farmers Dave and Spring Tribbett invited Marquis and Kathy to a Ravens game. Kathy knew Spring as her nail salon client, and the two couples hit if off.
About five years ago, the Tribbetts encouraged Kathy to open her own business, SugarCoated Nails in Denton. Dave got to know Marquis as they played golf together. Marquis was looking for work on his day off, so Dave hired him to help on the farm and with his composting business, Mid-Atlantic Organic Resource Company (MAORC).
About two years ago, Dave said, “I was put in a situation where I needed somebody, and I took a chance with him.” He hired Marquis as general manager of MAORC.
“He always crossed my mind, but I didn't know if he had the maturity,” Dave said. “You gotta have discipline being a supervisor of other employees, and it was never an issue. If anything, he gained a lot of respect from all the other employees, and has gained respect through the company, through our farmers and the job he does.”
Dave praised Marquis’ “great mentor,” Rob Etgen, “who set very good examples for Cat growing up. And Cat really looked up to him. And with him coming to the age where he's at now — being given a chance to really show how smart he is — it's pretty impressive. He's very, very smart.”
Marquis took the state certification exam to operate a compost company, and “aced it the first time,” Dave said. He recently earned his national certification from the Compost Research and Education Foundation. “So we could open up a compost company anywhere in United States,” Dave said. “He's pushing the company in the same way I am, so it's great having someone who runs your company thinking like you are.”
“Marquis is amazing,” Rob said. “I always knew how smart he was. Even as a kid, I would tell everybody he was going to be mayor of Easton. He knew everybody. He could interact with them all. He was always very, very intelligent, not just street-wise, but in all ways. So just to see what he's doing for Mid-Atlantic Organic is just amazing to me. I'm so proud of him, so proud to know him and Dave. They're just a great story together and doing great things for the Shore.”
Marquis, 40, is still a little rough around the edges. He puts extra effort into his verbal and written communications. But his ready smile, quick sense of humor, interest in others and willingness to learn are helping propel him forward. “I don’t hide from the truth,” he said. “What you don’t ask, I won’t tell, but I am very transparent.”
Marquis and Kathy marvel at how far they’ve come. These days, Marquis and Kathy manage a “yours, mine and ours” family of nine children, ranging in age from 22 to six. They live in a 2-story home in Denton and can’t believe their blessings.
“Yeah, I was ready,” Marquis said. “So now I try to stay busy (and) just volunteer my life away. We're on the Denton Little League board, I'm a part of two fire departments, Denton and Ridgely.” He’s also a member of the Lions Club. They attend St. Benedict Catholic Church where Kathy is a lifelong member.
“If my mind is busy, I don't have time to think about going backwards,” he said. “Basically what I do is just give back to my community that I tore up. That’s why I’m so big on second chances for others.”
