Ashley Dean Marable Sr. maintained the friendships and respect he earned during his 35-year career with the Dallas Fire Department, where he rose from private to assistant chief.

Mr. Marable, 91, died Friday of complications of lung cancer at Grace Presbyterian Village.

Services will be at 1 p.m. today at Elmwood United Methodist Church, 1315 Berkley Ave. in Dallas.

He will be buried in Trees Cemetery in Duncanville.

Mr. Marable was an old-school chief who had risen through the ranks and took particular care to provide excellence in administration, said former fire department chaplain Denny Burris.

"They did it by caring for the people who worked under them," Mr. Burris said. "They were personal. They knew how to be friends with the people, but yet they knew how to be chiefs with them, too."

Retired Dallas firefighter Dwain Bradshaw of Dallas said Mr. Marable was widely respected.

"He was one of those people who was efficient, who could get the job done and still make everybody like him," Mr. Bradshaw said.

When Mr. Bradshaw was getting a divorce in the 1960s, Mr. Marable, who was battalion chief at the time, would call him at night "just to see how things were going," Mr. Bradshaw said.

"This is very unlike the average chief," Mr. Bradshaw said. "Chiefs don't do that on the fire department; they hold themselves somewhat aloof."

Mr. Marable was fair, honest and truthful, said the Rev. Pete G. Nunez of De Queen, Ark., former public information officer for the fire department.

"We never had to guess where he was," Mr. Nunez said. "He was very much a gentleman and a very fair boss."

Ashley Dean Marable Jr. of Dallas said his father loved his work.

"He told me several times over the years that he couldn't wait to get to work in the morning," said his son. "He just liked the job."

Mr. Marable was a devoted family man who was hardworking and frugal.

"My father never shirked from hard labor," his son said. When firefighter work rotations shifted from 24 hours on and 24 hours off to 48-hour off periods, Mr. Marable took on second jobs, many of which required physical labor.

Mr. Marable's second jobs included being a seasonal Postal Service letter carrier during the holidays and working the cargo docks for trucking companies, his son said.

Mr. Marable was born in Emblem, Texas. His mother died in the Spanish flu pandemic in October 1918 when he was 13 months old.

Mr. Marable – whose father was unable to raise him and work the family farm – was raised by his grandmother, Emma Smith Marable. He grew up in Sulphur Springs, Texas, and graduated from high school in Electra, Texas, where he was reunited with his father.

Mr. Marable joined the Dallas Fire Department in February 1939.

He was promoted to fire department lieutenant during World War II but was demoted to private as other department officers returned from the war and resumed their previous positions.

In 1947, he was promoted to captain, ending a string of wartime ups and downs.

He was promoted to battalion chief in 1951.

"When he made battalion chief, he was the youngest man to ever make battalion chief in the Dallas Fire Department," his son said.

He was promoted to deputy chief in 1968 and to assistant chief in December 1971.

He retired in 1974 as an assistant chief.

In retirement, he worked many years as a deputy constable, his son said.

Mr. Marable had been a longtime member of Elmwood United Methodist Church and was a Mason.

He had been an avid hunter.

In addition to his son, Mr. Marable is survived by two daughters, Patricia Jarrard of Mineola, Texas, and Teri Panza of Midlothian; seven grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.