Betty Alyce Martin

Betty was born in Cabin Creek WV where she loved to sing & play instruments. Her dad taught her to play the ukulele, guitar & accordion. At age 14 Betty joined her dad’s band.  She & her dad’s country band performed on station WCHS in Charleston WV & at local county fairs.

Throughout her high school years, she worked at the local theater. Betty graduated from East Bank High School in 1942.  At age 18 she took the Civil Service test & was accepted for a position to work for the FBI in Washington DC.  Her plans changed when on a trip to NYC to visit her brother she met a Navy shipmate named Maurice Martin. They kept in touch & in 1943 they were married in Newport Rhode Island. They started their family at the end of World War II & had two daughters while living in WV.

In 1949 they decided to move to sunny California.  Soon they would add two more daughters to the family.  Betty was a very talented seamstress.  She made most of her girls’ clothes & made sure her girls had matching coats to wear with their Sunday dresses.  She taught her girls the importance of loving God & faithfully attending church.  Betty loved to quilt & after our dad retired to Hemet, she became active in the Hemet Valley Quilters Club.

In 2000 Betty moved back to Orange County to be close to family & her best friend Rose.  She was active in the Seniority Group through Santa Clara De Asis & St. Martins.  She loved her new church home & found opportunities to serve at Santa Clara.  Betty developed close friendships with her neighbors at Meadowood in Yorba Linda.  The gals had evening driveway gathering in the summer.   She also enjoyed her neighborhood walking group & exercise group at the Senior Center.  Cooking & sewing were her favorite hobbies which she passed on to her daughters.

She was a devoted mother to her four daughters & a loving grandmother to her 13 grandchildren, 20 great grandchildren, 5 great great grandchildren.  Betty is survived by three daughters, Mary Thompson Yorba Linda, Elizabeth Meridith Bakersfield, Joan Holder of Arkansas & Bettys sister Louise Casteel Tennessee.   

Betty loved to have fun & was our devoted mentor, counselor & friend.  She did everything with excellence & a joyful heart.

Donations can be made in Bettys name to: Ronald McDonald House, Bakersfield CA.