Genevieve (Alley) MARTIN

MARTIN, ALLEY, SPRIGGS, SCHUBERT, JOHNSTON, HAHN, SEEBACH

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 3/28/2008 at 09:29:00

Wisconsin State Journal, Madison, WI
March 19, 2008

MADISON, WI -- Genevieve Martin, age 91, passed away on Saturday, March 15, 2008, at Sebring Assisted Living. She was born on Jan. 25, 1917, near Lucasville, Ohio, the daughter of John and Clara (Spriggs) Alley. Genevieve was raised on her family' s poultry hatchery in southern Ohio in the 1920s and 1930s. She recalled that her family delivered eggs to a nearby family with a son named Leonard Sly, who grew up to become a movie and recording star after he changed his name to Roy Rogers. The oldest of five children, she was a take-charge individual almost from the beginning. At the age of eight, she prepared an entire meal for her family. When she was young, one of her heroes was famed pilot, Amelia Earhart. She followed in Earhart's steps by becoming a pilot, serving in the Civil Air Patrol, spotting forest fires over northern Kentucky and southern Ohio when most of the male pilots were off fighting in World War II. Genevieve also won the Ohio State Horseshoe Pitching Championship for women in 1950. She later became an avid golfer and bowler. Genevieve was a high school teacher, teaching physics and chemistry, and later joined the staff of the Ohio State University Extension Department. While living in Ohio, she had decided to attend graduate courses at the University of Wisconsin -- Madison.

She agreed to take a detour and drive her landlord to her sister's farm in Iowa. It was there that she met Maurice Martin. Her greatest joy came as a farm wife, mother, grandmother and civic leader in the place she called home for 50 years, Renwick, Iowa. Maurice passed away in 1998 and in 2002, she moved to Madison to be close to her son, Chuck, and his family. She is survived by her son, Chuck, and his wife, Sunny Schubert of Monona; granddaughter, Hayley of Monona; grandson, Hank of Whitewater; a brother, John F. Alley of Columbus, Ohio; two sisters, Julia Johnston of Dallas, Texas and Clare Hahn of Gainesville, Fla.; and nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her husband, Maurice; and a sister, Ruth Seebach of Auburndale, Fla.

Funeral services will be held on Saturday, March 22, 2008, at 11 a.m., at the GUNDERSON EAST FUNERAL HOME, 5203 Monona Drive, with Chaplain Steve Zwettler of HospiceCare presiding. Visitation will be held on Saturday from 10 a.m. until the time of the service at the funeral home. Burial will be in the Glenwood Cemetery, Goldfield, Iowa. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to HospiceCare Foundation.