Edwina Mae Martin

1925 - 2020

Edwina Mae Martin

Edwina Mae Martin passed away peacefully on Monday, December 21, 2020, at Hillcrest Hospital at the age of 95. Born in Danville, Va., on February 2, 1925, she was the youngest of three children born to the late Maceo Conrad Martin and Lavinia Henderson Martin.

Edwina was baptized as a teenager at Calvary Baptist Church in Danville. After graduating from John M. Langston High School, she received her A.B. degree from Bennett College in Greensboro, N.C., and M.S.W. from Atlanta University. Her professional career in social work began in the segregated South in the late 1940's. She was the first Black juvenile court probation officer in Greenville, S.C., and she was one of three black women who successfully graduated from the United States Air Force Officer's Candidate School at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Tex., in 1953. Upon receiving an honorable discharge as a Lieutenant following a three-year stint in the Air Force, Edwina was appointed Director of the Danville YMCA Branch from which she later relocated to Cleveland, Ohio. She continued to practice social work at the Cuyahoga County Child Welfare department and the Veterans Administration Medical Center (VAMC). She also became an Adjunct Instructor at the Case Western School of Applied Social Sciences. Her professional career ended when she retired from the VAMC in 1985, after 20 years of service as a Licensed Independent Social Worker (LISW). The Cuyahoga County Board of Commissioners proclaimed March 2, 1985, as a day in her honor. Edwina's father, Maceo Conrad Martin, graduated from Hartshorn Hall, now Virginia Union University in Richmond, Va. He became one of 22 black men who founded a bank in Danville in 1919, one of only 13 banks established by Black people during that period. The bank continues today as Movement Bank.

Edwina was a Life member of the NAACP and Bennett College Alumnae Association. She was also a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority and the Eastern Star Lodge.

Edwina is survived by her brother, M. Conrad Martin Jr. of Valley Village, Calif.; her half-sister, Paula Martin Smith of Danville, Va.; a host of precious nieces and nephews and many other family members and friends.

The family is conducting a memorial service at a later date.

Arrangements entrusted to the E. F. Boyd & Son Funeral Home and Crematory, 2165 E. 89th St., Cleveland, Ohio. http://www.efboyd.com.

Memorial donations may be made in Edwina M. Martin's name to Bennett College, www.bennett.edu.

E. F. Boyd & Son Funeral Home & Crematory