Minerva L. Martin

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University of Maryland

Minerva Martin Obituary

MARTIN Minerva L. Martin (Age 102) on Saturday, September 4, 2010 of College Park, MD. She was born in Hahnville, LA. She is survived by nieces and nephew Leonide Martin Gortner, Frederick C. Martin, Jr., Corinne C. Martin, Helen Celeste Martin and several grand-nieces and grand-nephews. Dr. Martin was a retired professor of English at the University of Maryland and former resident Dean of the U.M. Munich Branch in Germany. She traveled extensively and returned to College Park from her faculty appointment in Germany in the late 1970's. Dr. Martin was a life long learner, was active in several political groups and was a strong proponent of higher education for all. A service will be held at GASCH'S FUNERAL HOME, P.A., 4739 Baltimore Ave., Hyattsville, MD on Friday, September 10 at 10 am.

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Published by The Times-Picayune from Sep. 9 to Sep. 10, 2010.

Memories and Condolences
for Minerva Martin

5 Entries

Corinne Martin

September 2, 2023

I wrote this several years after Min died - and it is still true today -

Carrying On -
In whatever stage of grief we find ourselves, loss will never fail to color our lives. No matter how recent, or distant, the loss is, we will continue to live within the grief bubble of our ruptured love room. Like a lens that tints every aspect of our lives, grief is a constant window from which we view the world.
The older I get, and the further away the loss of my aunt (8 years ago!) - the more I experience the "polarities" of loss.
Knowing how fragile and tender life really is, my whole being cherishes everything I see, every person (or pooch!) I know, every new and gorgeous dahlia, all the courageous lives I witness or hear about. Sometimes, grief is a golden, gentle light.
And sometimes grief is a cloud, a fog through which I see everything. I wonder how anyone makes it through all the challenges of a life. I take in, and feel, the wrenching sorrows of the vulnerable people and beings and landforms of the world.
I have become a well of sorrows - at the same time that I have become a well of love - twin realities, neither of which I am ever really free. And maybe it´s okay. I am, after all, made up of this world that labors and loves, made up of the planet that shudders and forges on, made up of all the love that was poured into me and lifted me up, and of the small wounds and slights that pressed me down.
I live now with the ambiguities of being alive, and with the inexorable fact of the coming end-times of my own life.
Along the way, I´ve "absorbed" some of the unique qualities of my aunt; she´s inside of me more than ever now. Sometimes I find myself in the middle of a statement, or action, and I wonder if what I´m saying or doing is really wholly me, or is, in part, bits of my aunt that I took in and absorbed.
I guess love is always like that - something we take in, digest, absorb, and share as we make our ways through this struggling and stupendous world.
I´m grateful to my aunt for her example of how to head into my own later years - with courage and curiosity, with dignity and feistiness, with acceptance and resolve.
But - I´m not dead yet!
This morning, all the sunflowers in the ragged garden were bright, leaned over the grass, kept opening petals even though the squirrels have figured out how to climb their thick stalks and nibble out seed. Nothing could have been more beautiful.
So even though my aunt is gone, and even though loss continues to color all the days of my life, the lessons on how to carry on in this great work of loving life continue on.

Leonide L Martin

September 2, 2023

As long as we remember them, our ancestors and departed relatives still live in the realm of imagining. Let's remember what a adventurous and vibrant person Aunt Min was. She inspired me to reach high and not accept limitations imposed by family or society. So I became a university professor with a doctorate too! Here's to Aunt Min, my hero and role model. Much love, Lennie (Leonide Martin).

Cathy Martin

September 12, 2010

Aunt Min, what a true original you were and are, and such an interesting life you led! I'm so glad you spent 13 months in Lake Charles after Aunt Helen's passing, so Fred and I could spend a lot of time with you. I still remember you telling me we should chew our food 21 times, and the last time I talked to you (at age 100) you told me to brush my teeth and say my prayers every night--a teacher until the end. Enjoy your heavenly reward dear lady--you have certainy earned it! (And thanks to Corinne for taking such good care of you since your last return to Maryland.) Your "niece-in-law" Cathy

September 11, 2010

Aunt Min, Many fond memories of my childhood days at Hahnville with you, Poopsie and Grandma come to mind. You were an inspiration for intelligence and independence. May your travels in other dimensions be as satisfying as your ventures around this world. Love, Lennie (niece)