Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram Dec. 15, 2010 obituary. PORTLAND -- Joan Pio Martelle Garwitz, 94, died on Monday in the Barron Center. She was born in Portland on June 24, 1916, the daughter of the late Guisseppe and Candita Gentile Pio. She attended local Catholic schools, graduating from Cathedral High School in 1934. She married Ameido 'Marty' Martelle who died in 1978. They were married for 42 years. Together they owned and managed Marty's Market on Munjoy Hill prior to owning Martelle's Greenhouse on Brighton Avenue. They were noted for their garlic, parsley, dill and large pansies. Customers always enjoyed coming to pick out pansies of all their favorite colors. Joan's first job was with Cushman Bakery as a clerk, she then worked as a teller at Canal Bank which later became Key Bank, retiring after 15 years. She volunteered at the Mercy Hospital in the emergency department where she did filing and later worked in the floral department of the hospital's new gift shop. Joan was a member of the Zonta Club of Maine, the American Rose Society and a life member of the Italian Heritage Club where she was membership secretary for a few years and was a communicant of St. Joseph's Catholic Church. She won a medal at the Rose Show where she made a ring made of roses called 'The Wedding Ring.' Her hobbies were crocheting and dressing dolls and working on beautiful rugs and blankets. She met her second husband of 11 and a half years, Lawrence D. Garwitz, while in the Good Sam Club. He died in 2001. Relatives and friends are invited to call at Jones, Rich & Hutchins Funeral Home, 199 Woodford St., Portland, on Thursday from 2-4 and 6-8 p.m. Prayers will be recited on Friday at 10:15 a.m. at the funeral home, to be followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at 11 a.m. at St. Joseph's Catholic Church. Burial will follow at Calvary Cemetery, South Portland. 'We thank God for the gift of her life. She will be sadly missed by all who knew and loved her. Her memory and the legacy she instilled in her family will live on forever.'