Martha LaRochelle Brayton

Martha Louise (LaRochelle) Braton

October 10, 1926-May 23, 2013

Obituary

My best friend passed away yesterday, My Mother. I know she is now in a beautiful and peaceful place looking down on ALL of us smiling with PRIDE!!! She did such an AWESOME job raising the five of us, as well as supporting my father's first family of five children.

While writing her obituary, I pondered over the 'DASH' between the years 1926 and 2013. I began to recall so much that had happened from 1926-today.

My mother, Martha La Rochelle Brayton, was born in Sorel, Canada, a French Canadian. She graduated from College in Windsor, Canada. She worked at The Bank of Montreal where she met my American Father who was born and raised in Boston, Mass. While stationed in Canada as a United States Inspector, my father proposed and married my mother. They made their first home in Oregon.

Dad always worked two full- time Jobs. His daytime profession was in civil engineering. He inspected ships and submarines. In the evening and long into night he worked full-time as a professional chef. His cooking skills certainly benefitted us at home, there were all those mouths to feed. When his job with the government took them back to the east coast they bought a home in Sewell, New Jersey. It was a brand new home in a Sub Division called BUCKINGHAM VILLAGE. It was in this home that my mother raised her five children, Michele, Marguerite, Kathy, Philippe, and Pierre. She was a stay at home Mom, while my Dad worked long hours.

My mother was very busy raising her five children, but she still managed to focus on all other aspects of her life. She was an active church member, den mother, volunteer in her children's schools, a playground aid during recess and finally worked in the refreshment stand at the ball field during games. Later she volunteered at Underwood Hospital. During the summer, our family was a member of Seniors Lake in Glassboro, New Jersey, residents of Sea Isle City and campers at Four Seasons Campground in Woodstown, New Jersey. My mother always managed to accommodate our extended family, the Keens (our neighborhood friends) and all our Canadian relatives as well. All this was accomplished single-handedly by my mother while my father was busy at work.

My Father passed in 1977. I was sixteen and my brother Pierre only eleven. My three sisters were still in College at Seton Hall. Can you imagine??? At the time my mother didn't know what to do. She felt overwhelmed! But with God's HELP she did the BEST she could. I went into the Navy, and she sent Pierre to College in Delaware. In the 1980's my mother relocated to Houston, Texas. She became a volunteer, her passion, at a very large Hospital System.

She loved the Christmas Holidays, always having her large family and loved ones about her.

She was able to reunite with Brenda, a very special grand-daughter from my Dad's first marriage.

Mom helped raise her grand-children in Houston and still managed to travel the world with my sister Michele. She was a cruise fanatic with all my sisters. Unlike my three sisters, she was a wonderful cook and a great baker, often delivering goody packages to her cherished friends, especially Tia.

My mother really loved life. And as you can see she made that DASH important. I will really miss her.

Goodbye Mom.

You are and always will be the Love of My Life.

Our family wants to thank all her dear friends and the wonderful Doctors and Nurses of Methodist Hospital West, Katy Texas, Memorial Medical Center, Vitas Hospice, and Memorial City Rehab for the love and care extended to our Mother and family.

God Bless.

Phil Brayton