Class of ’36
November 7, 1917– March 11, 2024
Martinita“Marta” T. Martinez,106, of Espanola, N.M. passed into the loving arms of Jesus in the early morning hours of Monday, March 11, 2024, in Waldorf, MD at the home of her oldest daughter. Marta was born in Chimayo, N.M. on November 7, 1917, to the late Nicolas Trujillo and Juanita Martin Trujillo. Marta was the seventh of eight children.
Growing up, Marta attended the Presbyterian Mission School in Chimayo, N.M. and later graduated from Menaul School where she met and fell in love with Nacor Martinez. Following graduation, she found employment with the Federal Government in Washington, D.C. and moved to the east coast. Marta later married Nacor in Washington D.C. on August 14, 1943.
Marta’s greatest joy and passion was her family, each child, grandchild, great-grandchild, and great-great-grandchild was her “favorite”. She told each one “don’t tell the others, but you’re my favorite”. She loved having children around and never told them to be quiet or to settle down. She enjoyed all the energy they had. She loved to laugh and often read the Reader’s Digest section “Laughter is the Best Medicine”. She loved playing games, and her favorite was Chinese checkers. Other pastimes she loved were making mud pies with her grandchildren, going on long walks around town and hiking in the mountains to the Cajita, tending to her flowers and most definitely her chili plants.
She made the best cherry pie, and the luckiest ones found a pit in their piece, turns out everyone was lucky! In her later years she found a love of pottery and even enrolled in a college class or two to perfect her craft. She made the most beautiful clay pots and only on rare occasions would give them away to family and friends. She loved to learn and wanted to share her knowledge with others, many times in the form of word problems or scrambled words for all to solve. Marta loved to read poetry and always had a copy of “101 Famous Poems” nearby so that anyone who stopped by could read a poem. She wrote short stories and poems of her own, one of which was published in the New Mexico Magazine, April 2019 at the age of 101.
Her kindness, smile, sense of humor, and great love lives on in all of her family members with many wonderful memories to cherish. Marta loved the Lord and read her Bible daily. One of her favorite verses was Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”
Marta is survived by her four children, Jacqueline Orfield of Waldorf, MD, Catherine Berryhill of Espanola, N.M., Daniel Martinez of Peralta, N.M. and Samuel Martinez of Espanola, N.M., 11 grandchildren, 20 great-grandchildren, and 2 great-great-grandchildren, and many nieces, nephews and other extended family. In addition to her parents, Marta is preceded in death by her husband of 45 years, Nacor A. Martinez, and all seven of her siblings.
Marta has been laid to rest in her home state of New Mexico at Santa Fe National Cemetery. She will be missed dearly by all who knew and loved her, but her legacy of love, nurturing and kindness will live on in their hearts forever.
My Gramita 💜 miss you