Meet Our Photographers

Marsha McLaughlin
BEACON PHOTOGRAPHER, ILLUSTRATOR

Photographer Marsha McLaughlin is one of the most recognizable and best-loved of all contributors to The Beacon. She goes just about everywhere on her motorcycle, and Marsha sightings are ubiquitous! She handles as many as five photography assignments in one day, producing hundreds of photographs each week.

Marsha has been associated with The Beacon for about 14 years — since the newspaper's beginning — and before that she contributed illustrations and editorial cartoons to the DeLand Sun News.

Marsha is passionate about drawing and photographing the world around her. She has been hearing-impaired since birth, and her photos and sketches help her communicate brilliantly. Marsha loves babies of both the human and animal varieties. Her heroes are firefighters, astronauts, police and military personnel.

Marsha's faith runs very deep, and she believes in angels and miracles.

She attended the Florida School for the Deaf in St. Augustine, then took courses at Tennessee Temple University in Chattanooga. If you see Marsha out in the community, she'll be ready with paper and a pen, and you can choose to communicate with her through writing or sign language. If all else fails, she's exceptionally talented at pantomime. If they're choosing sides for charades, be sure to get Marsha on your team.

Born and reared in DeLand, Marsha lives here with her parents, Marty and Frances McLaughlin.

She comes from Spanish heritage on her father's side. Her ancestors from Minorca settled in New Smyrna Beach in the 1700s.

Her family has traced Marsha's Minorcan heritage to the early 1700s. Old family names include Pellicer and Pacitti..

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