Lois Martinez
Lois
Margaret Martinez, 82, resident of San Luis Obispo for 46 years, died Tuesday,
July 13, 2010. In recent years, despite surgeries and declining health, Lois
maintained a robust travel schedule to stay in touch with her family around
California and visit her favorite vacation spot, Avalon on Catalina Island.
Lois Martinez was
well-known throughout the San Luis Obispo area for support of schools, foreign
student exchange programs, local arts and music, but especially support for the
foundation and development of Cuesta Community College.
According to an
interview with Lois by the Cuesta Board of Trustees in 1977 when asked what she
was most proud of, she replied without hesitation, "My husband and raising
a family of four children." Lois was born in April 1928 to Albert and
Caroline Weber in Pontiac, Mich. She graduated from the Kingswood-Cranbrook
School in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., in 1946.
After attending Scripps
College in Claremont, Calif., as a freshman in 1947, Lois returned to Michigan
and graduated from Michigan State University in 1950 with a BA degree in
political science as a member of Gamma Phi Beta Sorority.
Lured back to California
by her sister, Susie, Lois took up a summer job as the concierge at the
Manzanita Lake Lodge at Lassen National Park. There she met the bellhop -
ex-Marine, Citrus High School and Junior College history teacher, Frank
Martinez, who took her orders - not only that summer, but for the rest of her
life.
Less than a year after
that summer job, Lois and Frank were married at the Cotta Miller Estate in
Glendora, CA, on March 16, 1951. In the summer of 1952, they traveled to
Europe. Frank remembers this as the time they discovered their love of travel.
In 1964, Frank's
recently minted USC doctorate brought an offer to re-join his Citrus College
colleague, Dr. Merlin Eisenbise and his wife, June, in the newly created
community college district in San Luis Obispo County. Lois and Frank packed up
the kids and the family's adored dachshund and moved to the beautiful vistas of
San Luis Obispo, whereupon Lois began her multi-decade long support to help
nurture and develop Cuesta College.
Later, Frank succeeded
Dr. Eisenbise and became Cuesta College's second President-Superintendent. In a
role that was all too often overworked and undervalued, Lois contributed in a
million different ways to ensure the success of Cuesta College and its efforts
to build a new campus, expand its outreach throughout the county and maximize
accessibility of its programs to the students and citizens of the Central
Coast. Her service included ringing doorbells to campaign for construction
bonds, organizing and hosting faculty-staff receptions and attending the myriad
events, meetings and social engagements that helped make Cuesta College a crucial
component of San Luis Obispo County's educational and cultural environment.
By hosting several
international exchange students, Lois was also deeply involved in bringing the
world to San Luis Obispo County and the County to the world. She was a long-time
member of the League of Women Voters and for over 30 years a leading member of
San Luis Obispo High School's German School Committee and American Field
Service Committee.
All four of her children
attended schools in Germany and other locations throughout the world. She
enjoyed the extended summer stays in her beloved adopted hometown of Avalon on
Catalina Island, and once the kids had left the nest, the opportunity to travel
the world with Frank (this started in the early 1970s and continued until her
death in 2010). Lois was at home in the world and the world was at home with
her.
Lois is survived by her
husband of 59 years, Frank Martinez; sons Dr. Larry Martinez (Dr. Cathy Boggs)
of Santa Barbara, Jay Martinez (Terri) of Walnut Creek, Calif., and Mark
Martinez of San Luis Obispo; daughter, Barbara Martinez (Steve Schlick) of
Morro Bay; two grandchildren Julian and Lulu Martinez; sister, Sue Theiler; and
other relatives chiefly in California, Michigan and on the East Coast.
A celebration of her
life is planned for 2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 7, 2010, in room 5401, at the Student
Body Building at Cuesta College. All family friends are invited. In memory of
Lois, contributions may be made to the Frank and Lois Martinez President's
Scholarship Endowment Fund at Cuesta College.