Marvin's father George immigrated to Warroad from Canada and bought a lumber company that would eventually become Marvin Windows. Calvin with the fifth of five boys and while three of his brothers would work for the family company, Cal would find a different career path. Cal served in the marines during World War II, fighting on Saipan during the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign. Even in the midst of the war, Marvin was enamored with hockey and wanted his small hometown to have a rink of its own; he named the Warroad Arena Fund as the beneficiary of his $10,000 life insurance policy (roughly $145,000 in 2020). After returning from the war, Marvin and Dick Roberts held several fundraisers for the community and by 1947 had raised enough money to build the city's first ice rink.