Gladys Martin - Gladys's Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ called her to her new and eternal home on Thursday, July 17, 2008. She leaves behind a sad family and friends, but we know she is now gloriously happy and pain free, so we take great comfort in that. She died of congestive heart failure at age 87 at her daughter Colleen?s home in Woodburn, Oregon. Gladys was born August 19, 1920, in Detroit, Michigan, to Robert and May (Leicester) Lloyd. They emigrated from England in 1919. She was their first child born in their new country. She was raised in a large and happy family. There were seven Lloyd children, Mae, Gladys, Grace, Betty, Bob, Alice and Albert. She graduated from Central High School in Detroit and spent a year taking night classes in shorthand and typing (transcript). Shorthand was a skill she used often and never forgot. Church was an important part of her life. She gave her life to the Lord when she was 13 at Harger Memorial Methodist Protestant Church in Detroit. As a teenager, she worked at several jobs to have a little spending money. This was during the great Depression and times were hard and money tight. She would clean houses, sew, iron, babysit, worked in a candy factory and a dime store. The Lloyds lived on Holmur Ave. and when Gladys was in her young to middle teens a unique family moved into the neighborhood. There were six boys and three girls in the new family and the Lloyd kids would go and peek at them and listen to them play their brass instruments. They were a family that went to the Salvation Army Church and their dad taught them all an instrument. They had their own family band. The kids from both families went to a lot of church youth activities together. On April 29, 1939, Gladys and the trumpet player, Bobby (Cap) Martin eloped. Cap and Gladys had two little girls while still living in Detroit- Nancy Lee in 1942 and Marilyn (Mimi) Louise in 1944. They lost Nancy at 4 years of age, from the flu/pneumonia that so many people were contracting. Penicillin was relatively new and was only given to the soldiers and doctors still used sulfa drugs for civilians. In 1946 the little family of three and Cap?s brother, Ralph and wife, Virginia bought two of the first civilians jeeps and two big Army tents - said good-bye to both families and city living and headed West to unfamiliar territory - Days Creek, Oregon. What a shock for a city girl. They pitched their tent up on a piece of property that Cap?s brother, Pete had purchased at the end of Days Creek Road, presently owned by Ralph and Aggie Duncan. Gladys took to roughing it with a good spirit as she faced everything in life. She was awed by the wild blackberries, just free for the picking, so that summer she canned and canned. All through the years, raising her kids, she canned or froze anything she could get her hands on. While in Days Creek the Martin family grew from one child to five - Linda Marie was born in 1947, Colleen Kay in 1949, Timothy Robert in 1952 and Rebecca Anne (Becky) in 1958. After a summer in the tent, they lived in a small cabin up Beals Cr. Rd., then Cap turned an old smoke house on the Raymond (Swingley) farm into living quarters, then he built a little house four miles out of Days Creek on his brother, Ralph?s land, then he built the large family ranch style home next to the little white church on the hill. Gladys lived there up till two years before her death. She loved her house and she truly made it a loving home - open to anyone who stopped by. She always had some goodies and tea to serve her guests. Gladys was always very involved at the Days Creek Methodist Church and later on the Nazarene Church in Myrtle Creek - teaching Sunday School, Vacation Bible School and Good News Club (Child Evangelism). At one time, all but about three kids from grades K-6th at Days Creek Elementary came to her Good News Club. She had a real heart for children and seeing them come to Jesus. She was also involved in the community - PTA when the kids were in school, 4-H Clubs, the Days Creek Ladies Aid, and was willing to help out any time she was asked. After having her kids mainly raised and babysitting many other kids, she went out into the workplace and didn't?t retire until she was 71. She worked at the Tiller Ranger Station as an Engineering Aid, then for a South County pre-school program, a teacher?s aid at Days Creek Elementary, and the position she retired from - teacher?s aid/secretary at Tiller Elementary. Gladys loved people, loved to visit, loved having a good time and had a great sense of humor. She was a wonderful wife, mom, grandma, great-grandma and friend. We all loved her dearly, She will be missed. She was preceded in death by her parents; husband; daughter, Nancy Lee; son,Tim in 2007, sisters, Mae and Betty and brother, Albert. She is survived by two sisters, Grace (Ed) Meyer of Atlanta Michigan and Alice (Ben) Bloomer of Eugene, Oregon and one brother, Bob of Howell, Michigan, many in-laws, numerous nieces and nephews, and her kids, grandkids and great-grandkids; daughters, Mimi Howard of Myrtle Creek, Oregon; Linda (Jim) Jenks of Days Creek; Colleen (Scott) Hoerning of Woodburn, Oregon and Becky (Dan) Crume of Tiller, Oregon; - Mimi?s kids and their kids, Aaron (Autumn) Howard and Hayden - Amy (Doug) Risley and Tyler, Linda?s kids and their kids, Rob (Rebekah) Jenks and Kayla, Katie, Brandon and Justin - Brian (Jacinda) Jenks and Oliver, Eli and Isaiah, Colleen?s kids and their kids, Barry (Mink) Williams - Angela (Josh) Arentz and Caleb, Ian and Chloe, and Becky?s kids-Malia, Olivia, Sadie, Jeremy and Nathan. A memorial service will be held on Sunday, July 27, 2008, at 3 p.m. at the Nazarene Church, 235 N.E. Rice in Myrtle Creek. OR. A fellowship meal will follow. The Mountain View Memorial Chapel in Myrtle Creek is assisting the family.
[The News-Review, Roseburg, Oregon, Friday, 1 August 2008]