Martha Eppler

SALINAS – Surrounded in her final hours by her son and daughters, long-time Salinas resident, Martha Eppler, passed away in the Alameda Hospital at Waters Edge on June 12, 2013. She was 95. For over 60 years, Martha lived in Salinas but moved to the Bay Area in 2006 to be close to her three children and families. Known foremost as a watercolorist, Martha enjoyed a range of mediums in her long career as an artist and educator, including oils, acrylics, collage and pen and ink. Landscapes remained her favorite subjects throughout her career.
Born in Warren County, Kentucky in 1917, Martha spent the first years of her childhood in Bowling Green where her dad taught Latin and Greek at what is now called Western Kentucky University. With rural relatives on both sides, she spent many happy summer weeks on the farm with her mom, doing chores with her cousins and acquiring a lifelong love of plants and animals. In March 1925, when Martha was seven, the family relocated to Washington, D.C. where her father worked as secretary to Kentucky's Senator Frederic Sackett. For the next 15 years she lived the life of a city girl, living first in a residential hotel and then in an apartment. Her sister, who was much older, guided her towards activities more compatible with a circumscribed life. She taught Martha how to play the piano and encouraged her interest in drawing and sketching. These two pursuits, art and music, remained central throughout her life.
As a young adult she was able to study at the Studio House, the Abbott School of Commercial Art and the Corcoran Gallery School of Art in Washington, D.C. For a short time she worked as a commercial artist but after her marriage in 1939 to a young engineer, John Eppler, she devoted her energies to family life. In 1941 a son, Eric, was born and three years later, a daughter, Kristin, followed.
At the close of WWII the young family moved to Monterey, California where Mr. Eppler was stationed with the Navy. When his military service ended, John moved his family inland to Salinas where he took a position with PG&E, as Coast Valleys Division Gas Engineer. In 1947 a third child, Nancy, was born. In addition to raising her three children and running a household, Martha was able to pursue her art, giving lessons to youngsters in her home and participating in several organizations that promoted art in the community and the schools. As a Girl Scout leader for many years, she planned art and crafts projects as well as nature hikes for her troop. The family vacations were often extended camping trips as well as visits to the natural wonders of this expansive country. All these experiences became grist for her art, which by then included watercolor, oil, acrylic and pastel. She also continued to play the piano and later the organ. In California Martha studied oils with the late Frank Meyers and Clarence Bates, both of Carmel. In Salinas she studied watercolor with Leon Amyx, Richard Yip and Elliot O'Hara. She also worked in collage under Alexander Nepote of San Francisco.
When the children left home and John finally retired, the couple traveled to Europe, visiting the lands of their respective ancestries: the British Isles and Germany. Martha later continued traveling with the artist's tour groups of Harold Holly and, later, Shirley Landgraf, spending several weeks each year painting the local color of Greece, Italy, Spain and Ireland.
Martha Eppler's paintings are in private collections in Washington, D.C., Louisville, Kentucky, Maryland, Hawaii, the San Francisco Bay Area and throughout Monterey County. An oil painting by Mrs. Eppler was chosen to hang in the permanent collection at the Sherwood Community Center in Salinas. She and three other artists (Grace Bryant, Phoebe Hall and Audrey Schielke), each painted a panel of a quadripartite mural which celebrates the agricultural abundance of the Salinas Valley. This work hangs in the social hall of Northminster Presbyterian Church in north Salinas. Martha was a charter member of Art Unlimited, the Valley Art Gallery and its predecessor, the Off-Main Art Gallery.
Martha is survived by her three children, John Eric Eppler (Karen) of Piedmont, Kristin Eppler of Oakland and Nancy Eppler Noda (Rodney) of Corte Madera; three grandchildren, Damon Eppler (Pamela) of Fort Collins, CO, Alicia Himelson of Paso Robles and Akio Noda of Los Angeles; and five grandsons: Ben and James Himelson; and Nairn, Kyle and Brodie Eppler.
A memorial service and celebration of Martha's life will be held on Saturday, September 21, 2013 at 10:30 a.m. at Northminster Presbyterian Church, 315 East Alvin Drive, in north Salinas. A reception will follow the service. The family requests that any donations be made to the Martha Eppler Visual Arts and Music Fund, in care of Northminster Presbyterian Church, where her legacy in the arts will continue in youth education programs throughout the years.
The Salinas Valley Art Gallery, 218 Main Street (831-422-4162), will present a memorial exhibit of her work throughout the month of December. The opening reception will be held on Friday, December 6, 2013 from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m.