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Mary Jane Martindale

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Mary Martindale Obituary

Published by Legacy Remembers on Dec. 15, 2019.

Mary Jane Martindale Having led an adventurous life devoted to music and the outdoors, Mary Jane Martindale of Atascadero, California passed away on November 8, 2019. She was eighty-eight. Mary grew up in Beverly Hills, the second eldest of four. She started teaching piano when she was twelve. In 1953 she graduated from The Juilliard School of Music in New York City with a BS in Composition. It was there that Mary met her first husband, Harry Lewis Robin of Brooklyn. After their first two children, Issa (1955) and Greg (1956) were born they moved back to Los Angeles where Alexandra was born (1962). The next many years were spent raising her children, teaching piano privately, and running the music program at The Oakwood School - a small private high school in North Hollywood. Mary remarried (Richard Bert Ferguson) in 1972. They bought forty acres outside of Creston, California and moved there that next year. With a learn-by-doing attitude Mary milked their cow and made butter and cheeses, canned and froze their garden harvests, raised chickens for eggs, pigs for bacon, and rabbits for market. In 1978 they broke ground and over the next three years built their own 3400 sq ft house "Doing all the work", as Mary would say "...but the hot tar on the roof and the plaster on the thin wall." Although music had taken a back seat to farming life in Creston, it wasn't long before Mary grew a new cadre of piano students. Before their split in 1995 Mary and Rich backpacked The Sierra Nevada Mountains, The Swiss Alps, The Pyrenees of Spain, and The Caucasus Mountains of Russia. After their divorce, Mary continued backpacking with groups and solo. She trekked in The Brooks Range in Alaska and made many returns to The Sierra. She continued hiking well into her eighties, frequently visiting Cerro Alto and other local trails when she could no longer carry her own gear or sleep comfortably on the ground. She retired from piano teaching when she was eighty-five. Mary leaves as her legacy three children, three stepchildren, five grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents, two brothers, and a sister. A celebration of Mary's life will be scheduled in early 2020. In lieu of flowers please consider a donation to the Central Coast Music Teachers Association. (805)237-2281 centralcoastmusic.org/contact.

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Recent Activity

July 30, 2020

Dale posted to the memorial.

January 5, 2020

Mark Winkler posted to the memorial.

January 5, 2020

Marcia Joyce posted to the memorial.

4 Entries

Dale

July 30, 2020

At the age of 16 I lost my father very suddenly and unexpectedly. My whole life changed in an instant. But I was to become a senior at HS two months later and my family life was in ruins.
I realized quickly that I was never going to make it through my last year of HS without something to absorb me and so I decided to write an opera.
I was a singer of musicals and played the piano and came from a father who loved opera. We shared that love with Saturday night listening to full operas while reading the libretto and going to live performances. So as a tribute to my father, I decided to dedicate my final year of HS to writing this opera as his memorial and my way to grieve his loss.
I approached my HS music teacher, a wondrous tall, amazon like woman named Mary Robin who wore Birkenstock’s and no make up and had an earth Goddess vibe. She was both serious, disciplined and had a twinkle in her eye and a very dry humor.
I adamantly said I wanted to write an opera this year. Without hesitation she took me seriously and said do you understand music theory? Answer no, not at all. Well then she said, we will start there. Several days a week I would go home with her or stay late at school and she taught me how composition and theory works and never for a moment acted as if this was folly or a ridiculous HS idea.
She guided me through the story process and when my original ending had the entire cast dying of a mass suicide, she suggested I kill maybe only a few characters so the rest could sing a rousing choral ending! I accepted her guidance and we worked together as comrades, never once making me feel like a silly high school student but rather that this was the most important part of her day and if I agreed to work hard she would teach me everything I needed to know.

Six months later my opera , “Adrienne and Ivee” was performed with full cast and costumes and choreography at my HS. To this day I have no idea how we pulled it off but I am sure it is because Mary was a teacher who taught and believed it you want to learn, you can accomplish anything.
That lesson I realized has informed my entire life. Both that I believed I could do it as impossible as it was to accomplish. And that Mary believed I could do it.
Anything is possible with the right believers.

DALE FRANZEN
www.dalefranzen.com

HADESTOWN on Broadway
Hadestown.com
Walter Kerr Theater
Winner of 8 Tonys Including Best Musical
Winner of Grammy 2020 Best musical theater album
https://www.ticketmaster.com/hadestown-ny-tickets/artist/2580967

SISTERS IN LAW
Sistersinlawtheplay.com

From W.H. Auden's September 1, 1939:

Defenseless under the night
Our world in stupor lies;
Yet, dotted everywhere,
Ironic points of light
Flash out wherever the Just
Exchange their message:
May I, composed like them
Of Eros and of dust,
Beleaguered by the same
Negation and despair,
Show an affirming flame.

At the age of 16 I lost my father very suddenly and unexpectedly. My whole life changed in an instant. But I was to become a senior at HS two months later and my family life was in ruins.
I realized quickly that I was never going to make it through my last year of HS without something to absorb me and so I decided to write an opera.
I was a singer of musicals and played the piano and came from a father who loved opera. We shared that love with Saturday night listening to full operas while reading the libretto and going to live performances. So as a tribute to my father, I decided to dedicate my final year of HS to writing this opera as his memorial and my way to grieve his loss.
I approached my HS music teacher, a wondrous tall, amazon like woman named Mary Robin who wore Birkenstock’s and no make up and had an earth Goddess vibe. She was both serious, disciplined and had a twinkle in her eye and a very dry humor.
I adamantly said I wanted to write an opera this year. Without hesitation she took me seriously and said do you understand music theory? Answer no, not at all. Well then she said, we will start there. Several days a week I would go home with her or stay late at school and she taught me how composition and theory works and never for a moment acted as if this was folly or a ridiculous HS idea.
She guided me through the story process and when my original ending had the entire cast dying of a mass suicide, she suggested I kill maybe only a few characters so the rest could sing a rousing choral ending! I accepted her guidance and we worked together as comrades, never once making me feel like a silly high school student but rather that this was the most important part of her day and if I agreed to work hard she would teach me everything I needed to know.

Six months later my opera , “Adrienne and Ivee” was performed with full cast and costumes and choreography at my HS. To this day I have no idea how we pulled it off but I am sure it is because Mary was a teacher who taught and believed it you want to learn, you can accomplish anything.
That lesson I realized has informed my entire life. Both that I believed I could do it as impossible as it was to accomplish. And that Mary believed I could do it.
Anything is possible with the right believers.

DALE FRANZEN
www.dalefranzen.com

HADESTOWN on Broadway
Hadestown.com
Walter Kerr Theater
Winner of 8 Tonys Including Best Musical
Winner of Grammy 2020 Best musical theater album
https://www.ticketmaster.com/hadestown-ny-tickets/artist/2580967

SISTERS IN LAW
Sistersinlawtheplay.com

From W.H. Auden's September 1, 1939:

Defenseless under the night
Our world in stupor lies;
Yet, dotted everywhere,
Ironic points of light
Flash out wherever the Just
Exchange their message:
May I, composed like them
Of Eros and of dust,
Beleaguered by the same
Negation and despair,
Show an affirming flame.

Mark Winkler

January 5, 2020

I met Mary at the pool. She always had her own lane but I felt honored one time when she let me share a lane with her. She was a speciall lady. I always enjoyed our conversations as they weren't just surface talk conversations. Will miss you at the pool Mary!

Marcia Joyce

January 5, 2020

Mary was also an avid swimmer. I met Mary late in her life at the KCF in Atascadero where we swam laps together. She took our small cramped locker room and turned it into a positive by saying with this space we all have to talk with each other. Many of our conversations centered around tennis, and more to the point Roger Federer. She had a big time crush on him!! Tennis for me will always make me think of Mary. I'm grateful to have known her. ❤

Elaine Genasci

December 22, 2019

I loved Mary dearly, she lived a wonderful life and was a true friend. I last saw her in the grocery store, the last hug and the last smile we shared.
The world has lost a wonderful human.