Margot Martin

Deceased: (in hospice) 25 August 2014, Fillmore, California

A long-time Ventura resident, Margot A. Martin passed on Monday 25 August from end state dementia. Her survivors include three sons and their spouses: Robert Earl Davis and Teresa Lust of Etna, NH; Thomas Joseph and Lisa Davis of Ventura, California, and James Edward and Giovanna Davis of Taylors, South Carolina, along with five grandchildren and her long-time partner William Huxley Reid. She is predeceased in death by her brother Walter Pyle and Richard Ellsworth Davis, father of her sons.

Margot Martin worked as a civilian for the UK Ministry of Defense during WWII, where she met Richard Davis, whom she married in 1948. She became naturalized as an American citizen in Colorado Springs in 1953, and raised three sons as a US Army wife. She and her family settled in Ventura in 1963 upon her husband’s retirement from the Army and went to work for Retail Credit Company (Equifax) for 12 years. There she primarily investigated contestable death claims for the insurance company. Margot left that job to join the Medical Examiner’s Office of Ventura County in 1976, the first female deputy coroner-investigator in Ventura County. She retired after over 10 years of dedicated service in 1986.

Recognized by her British accent, and known for her bright and kind personality, Margot Martin took her professional career and community service beyond expectations and into her home, her spare time, and into retirement. In the mid-1970’s Margot recognized a major gap in consoling bereaved families whose children died as victims of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). As a counselor, she initiated support meetings for parents in 1978, becoming a member of the Southern California Regional SID Council in 1979. Many admired her for her “one-woman crusade to educate nurses, emergency response personnel, police departments and others about the unique circumstances of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.“ She carried this passion forward after retiring from Ventura County, traveling across the nation promoting SIDS education and serving as an expert witness in SIDS cases. She won the Daniel E. Boatwright Award in 1996, an honor given annually by the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome Council.

Margot Martin also dedicated much of her time to community service. In the 1990’s she became a champion for organizations such as the Turning Point Foundation, the Khepera House, Miracle Recovery Center and the Altrusa Club. Organizing, fund raising, and collecting donations, she always looked for opportunities to support these organizations. The community recognized Margot, and she became a local winner of the prestigious Jefferson Award for extraordinary community service, and a trip to Washington DC. Her career and her community service passion even came together on the lecture circuit, for example giving a talk in 2005 with the title "Who Says Coroners Can't Have Fun?" She used events like this to promote the Khepera House and many there will remember her as a hero.

In lieu of flowers please send donations to Khepera House, 330 North Ventura Ave, Ventura, CA 93001, or another of the organizations mentioned above. A memorial service in honor of Margot's life will follow at a later date.

Arrangements under the direction of Charles Carroll Funeral Home, Ventura, CA.