About Martha: The summer after our high school graduation Martha worked at Big Boy Restaurant which regularly brought her friends in to see her, though they were not great tippers. She had always wanted to be a nurse; at one time this was combined with being a cowgirl, and to take care of children. She earned her BSN in 1970 from Wayne State. Her career in nursing has been a journey, a joy, and blessing. She has been told she needs to consider retirement which is hard to imagine what her life would look like then. She has worked at Hutzel Hospital in the preemie care unit (before all the machines and technology), the newborn nursery (when there was a clinic floor vs. private) then to Children’s Hospital of Michigan rotating units and shifts and then in the pediatric intensive care unit, where machines and technology were evolving. She left Detroit for the University of Pittsburgh to earn a master’s degree in nursing in 1975. Since then she has taught nursing at the University of Pittsburgh, Rush University, Chicago and currently North Park University, Chicago. She has worked as a clinical specialist in neonatology at Children’s Memorial Hospital and La Rabida Children’s Hospital and published a little. She has continued hands-on bedside care, especially when her children were young, at Rush University Hospital, and Lutheran General Hospital in the neonatal intensive care units. She added to her skills by becoming a certified lactation consultant in 1996, which allowed her to work in this role in the hospital, at Rush and Lutheran General and to set her own hours doing home visits as a LC in private practice. At one point she realized she needed to quit a job or two to allow some holiday and weekend time off.

Martha is thankful to God for the gifts He has given her and her desire to have used them well and to His glory. Her verse she shares with her students is “…whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men,” Colossians 3:23 NKJV

Martha met her husband, Wayne, on an adventure outing in Palos Hills Forest Preserve and they married in 1981 in their beautiful German gothic church, St James, Chicago. They lived in Boston Massachusetts for a short time and then returned to Chicago. They have three great children. Their firstborn, Pete and his wife Tara have blessed them with two grandchildren so far, Jack and Seeley. Their middle guy, Mark, left Chicago in 2015, (after working for Lincoln Park Zoo) for an adventure in Denver Colorado still wanting to expand his career with exotic/wild animals. Their youngest, Abi, is a teacher, living nearby in Chicago with Owen, her husband. Their life has been filled with great family vacations, travels; Martha likes the north woods, lake shore and mountains the best. Lots of sports with the kids; soccer, basketball, baseball, swimming, more soccer, etc. they have always had a dog or dogs and their family gatherings include the kid’s dogs too; ‘the pack’.

Wayne is an avid exerciser, expanding now beyond running to triathlons, especially since he retired from Northern Trust Bank in spring 2016. (See the pressure is on her now.) They have rehabbed a 1930 two flat near Wrigley Field and their 1905 foursquare; although Martha is a preservationist which is more effort. She enjoys antiquing, refinishing, depression glass, vintage miniatures and doll houses, handcrafts, sewing, taking pictures; anything creative to balance the science half of her brain. She loves the outdoors, gardening, hiking, exploring, biking etc. She loves her church and worshipping with the body of Christ, especially singing and bible study.

Message to Classmates: I am so looking forward to our 50th and spending an evening catching up with my classmates of 1966. Looking forward at graduation I couldn't have imagined what the years between would have brought, but I am thankful for the strong foundation I was provided for the future. Thanks Randy and Paul and the reunion committee for all your work and planning.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” Hebrews 12:1 NIV