Carmen Estela Martin

by her grandchildren, passed away on Sunday evening, July 24th, in Austin, Texas, surrounded

by her children and grandchildren.

Carmen was 89 years old. Although she passed away in

Austin, and had lived in places as varied as Puerto Rico, Massachusetts, Louisiana, Lubbock, and

Pampa, home is where your heart is, and Carmen’s heart found a home in Midland, Texas in

1956. And, over the following 66 years, Midland is where she met the love of her life, raised five

sons, enjoyed great friendships, and built a beautiful house, whose doors were as open as her

heart was, welcoming all with the warmth of her attention, the generosity of her spirit, and, most

deliciously, an abundance of fresh baked goods. Carmen is preceded in death by her beloved

husband of 41 years, Joseph Stewart Martin (“Stewart”), and her mother, Carmen Belen Libby,

and her father, Paul Jarvis Thurston.

Carmen is survived by her brother, Edwin Thurston, and his wife, Phylis, of San Angelo; and her

sister, JoAnn, and her husband, Tom Oren, of San Angelo. Carmen often said that the happiest

period of her life was when her sons were little boys and she went around town followed by “five

little ducks in a row.” She is survived by those five ducks and their families: Joseph Stewart

Martin, Jr. (“Jay”) and his wife, Diana, of Houston; John Edwin Martin (“Ed”) of Dallas;

Frederick Scott Martin (“Scott”) and his wife, Carmen, of Spain; Stephen Douglas Martin

(“Steve”) of Austin; David Thurston Martin and his wife, Victoria, of Austin; her grandchildren,

Trevor Martin, and his wife, Kelsey; Caroline and her husband, Gabe Aguilar; Joseph, Annabel,

and Carmen LaRue; Ellison and Lucy; and her very first great-grandchild, the now one year-old,

Genevieve Adaleigh Martin.

Carmen Martin was born in Puerto Rico on February 1, 1933. Her mother, Carmen Libby, was

one of ten children born to Frederick Ernest Libby, who the U.S. State Department sent to

establish the public school systems of Puerto Rico and Panama, and his wife, Maria Cestero, of

Puerto Rico. Though Carmen spent most of her early childhood in Lubbock and Pampa, Texas,

she lived for a year in Puerto Rico, where she remembered the children calling her, “La

Americanita.” During the Great Depression and World War II, her mother worked long shifts as a

registered nurse, and left Carmen to care for her little brother, Ed, and all the stray dogs they had

adopted.

After her father, Paul Thurston, returned home from the war, her family moved to Ville Platte

and then Franklin, Louisiana, where she graduated from high school as valedictorian. She then

attended University of Southern Louisiana, where she created her own degree plan in speech

pathology, having been inspired by helping her little brother overcome a speech disorder as a

child. To see the world before settling down, she flew as a flight attendant for a year with Delta

Airlines, based out of New Orleans, before she landed a job as a teacher and speech pathologist

in Midland, where her uncle, Harry Libby, was a geologist. When she moved to Midland, she

became housemates and then lifelong friends with Mary Hughes and Patricia Schneider. She had

chosen Midland over other job offers, because it was a bustling boom town, attracting young

professionals from around the country, and soon she fell in love with one of them, a

Caltech-trained geologist from California, Stewart Martin.

Carmen met Stewart at a dance party, which she and her roommates hosted in their house in

1956. Carmen and Stewart married on March 9, 1957 in Franklin, Louisiana and spent their

honeymoon in Havana, Cuba—unexpectedly witnessing the beginnings of the Cuban Revolution.

Carmen left speech pathology to start a family, and had five sons over a span of 10 years. Raising

her five sons—Jay, Ed, Scott, Steve, and David—was her greatest challenge and her greatest

pride in her life, and to which she brought the same level of energy, compassion and generosity

that she brought to everything she did. During this period, for her many friends from St. Mark's

United Methodist Church, her neighbors on Auburn Court, her large extended family and the

countless friends of her sons, Carmen’s beautiful home became a welcoming place to gather and

enjoy great food with friends and family as she always had something cooking in the

kitchen—or, better yet, baking in the oven. No matter the scale of the social event, either

birthday parties, baby showers, graduations, summer cul-de-sac barbecues, winter Christmas

parties—including her famous Christmas cookie decorating parties for kids—or just an after

school snack for her sons and their many friends, Carmen was always the consummate hostess,

sharing her food and kindness with all who entered her home— and, in return, from all she

received much love and appreciation.

After all her five sons graduated from Lee High School and then from The University of Texas at

Austin, Carmen faced a new challenge, the love of her life, Stewart was diagnosed with a rare

debilitating disease. Rather than admit him to a nursing center, she took care of Stewart at home

through the long, painful process of a progressive disease. At the same time, she also went back

to speech pathology after 30 years, where she loved helping students overcome speech disorders,

and where she made new best friends, adding to her lifetime of meaningful friendships. Through

it all she never lost her spirit of adventure and enthusiasm for life, whether it was working for a

summer volunteer at Rocky Mountain National Park or traveling on church missions to

Guatemala and Mexico. As she traveled the world, Carmen made friends wherever she went

through her openness and interest in others. And she never lost touch with her many friends and

family by sending cards for all occasions, any holiday and every birthday. Most importantly,

Carmen sent out her annual Christmas letter, so that all her friends and family could keep up with

the “Seven Martins.”

Those Seven Martins soon multiplied, becoming many more Martins, and Carmen became

“Mima,” the generous and fun-loving grandmother. Every summer for three decades, Carmen

hosted “Camp Mima” to entertain her grandkids, taking Trevor, Caroline, Joe, Annabel, Carmen

LaRue, Ellison, and Lucy for a week, so that they could all enjoy the wonders of her home and

adventures in Midland, from the Petroleum Museum and the Planetarium to drive-in movies and

dinner at Shoguns. While never able to host Camp Mima for the newest Martin of them all, her

first great-grandchild, Genevieve, she could not have been happier than to welcome the new

generation of Martins into her life!

As Carmen would say, she never had a dull moment in her life —she kept busy by always

thinking of the needs of others and by doing today what others might have put off for tomorrow.

And, of course, she did it in her own way, including her approach to her final months, choosing

to be with her family and friends and to spend as much time as she could with them —to share

her stories and share a genuine interest in theirs. As a result, she passed the way she lived, with a

heart full of joy, love and generosity for all—seeing the best in all people and the bright side in

all situations.

A celebration of life service is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. Friday, August 5, 2022, at First United,

Methodist Church, 300 North Main Street, Midland TX 79701. A public visitation is scheduled

for 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Thursday, August 4, 2022, at Ellis Resthaven Funeral Home, 4616 N

Big Spring St, Midland TX 79707. In lieu of flowers, the family asks donations be sent to the

“Meals on Wheels Program” at Senior Life Midland, 3301 Sinclair Ave, Midland, TX, 79707.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.ellisfunerals.com for the Martin family.