Helen S. Martin

She was preceded in death by her husband Roy in 1967 and sons David and Larry in December 1946 and her brother Edward of Boca Raton, FL. She leaves one son and daughter-in-law, Thomas and Janet Martin of Rosharon, TX; a sister, Florence of Mansfield, OH; a brother Ray of Bethesda, MD; two grandchildren, Steven Martin of College Station, TX and Melissa Jones of Conroe, TX; and five great-grandchildren.

A Memorial Service will be held at 10:00 AM, Friday, May 14, 2010, at Colonial Oaks at First Colony, where she had resided for the past 11 years.

BIOGRAPHY

Mrs. Helen S. Martin was born in Cleveland, Ohio on July 19, 1916, the daughter of Anthony and Josephine Simoncic. She was the eldest of their four children; Edward (deceased) of Boca Raton, Florida, Ray Simms of Bethesda, Maryland and Florence Bernard of Mansfield, Ohio.

After graduating from Rocky River High School in 1934 Helen went to work as a secretary for Stock Engineering Company in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1940 she married Roy W. Martin and moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After a few years they moved to Wheeling, West Virginia, when her husband began working for IBM. They welcomed the arrival of son Tom in 1948, two years after a terrible accident ended the lives of her two loving sons David and Larry. In 1959 her husband was assigned to Tokyo, Japan, where they lived for two years.

Upon their return to the States the Martins made their home in Canfield, Ohio. After her husband’s sudden death in 1967, Helen went to work as a secretary in the Audio-Visual department of Boardman High School where she remained until her retirement in 1982.

During her early retirement years she enjoyed traveling, monthly bridge club and her various cross-stitch and sewing projects. Helen gave many of her beautiful cross-stitch works as gifts to family and friends over the years and will surely be remembered by them. She also enjoyed working on crossword puzzles and was quite good at Scrabble.

After an illness in 1999, Helen moved to Texas to be closer to her son and daughter-in-law, Tom and Janet and her two grandchildren, Steven and Melissa. She moved into an apartment in Colonial Oaks at First Colony where she was able to continue many of her favorite pass times such as scrabble, working crossword puzzles and playing bridge, as well as going on as many excursions as she could to explore Texas. She made many good friends while at Colonial Oaks over the years and always had a smile and a hello for all. Helen was a member of the First United Methodist Church of Missouri City.