MARY MARTIN: Stopping By: ‘Bridge across a divide’

Story by Starla Pointer,McMinnville News-Register/N-R, 5/2/2017. Photo by “Mac News,” which is not affiliated with the N-R.

Mary Martin will tell you she’s no angel, no goody two-shoes.

She’ll say, in her very straightforward manner, that the positive things she’s done in McMinnville aren’t that special. They’re just things that needed doing and she was available.

Many others would disagree with her humble appraisal, including those who chose Martin as this year’s Woman of the Year. She was honored Monday night at the annual Distinguished Service Awards banquet.

Also recognized were Man of the Year Rocky Wade, Junior Citizen Chelsey Nichol, Outstanding Educator Kelly Carlson and Outstanding Farmers Christine and Jared Anderson.

“Being named Woman of the Year is humbling,” said Martin, who admitted having a rare moment of speechlessness when informed. “It’s truly an honor when I see the women who received the award before me,” she said.

They would return that compliment. In fact, they did when they opted to nominate her for this year’s award.

At Monday’s banquet, presenters noted Martin’s professional accomplishments in business and real estate and her extensive community service, which ranges from supporting the library to helping the less fortunate.

“The unique combination of Mary’s day-to-day involvement in the immediate concerns of life on the streets, and her community stature from years in real estate, make her an enormously effective bridge across a cultural divide,” according to the past women of the year who nominated her for this year’s award.

Martin grew up near Langlois, on the Southern Oregon Coast.

She remembers her parents helping people — her mother feeding homeless men who came to their yard and her father finding them jobs to do. They set an example by which she lives today.

“If we saw a need, we were able to fill it,” said Martin, who as an adult would often host people, such as Linfield College international students, in her home.

“It was our pleasure,” she said. “And we received 10 times what we gave.”

Married young, she and her husband, the late Noel Martin, came to McMinnville so he could attend Linfield. Both had some relatives in the area, including Noel’s uncle, a Linfield professor.

She took care of their two sons. Soon, they would have a daughter and another son, as well.

They were poor, she said. “This town and our church took care of us,” she said.

“If someone had an extra box of pears from the tree in their yard, it ended up on our porch. Friends traded us clothes. The ladies of the church taught me how to rear the children right. It was a good place for us to land.”

After graduating, her husband joined the nascent Linfield Research Institute. She stayed home with the kids: Noel Paul, now living in Hillsboro; John, now living in Colorado; and Stacy and Robert, both still making their homes in McMinnville.

When the youngest was about 8, Martin joined Lois Gilmore, Marilyn Crousser, Beverly Trenneman and Rosemary Moore to buy a bookstore, which they called The Book Shop. It was located in the 300 block of Third Street.

US Bank offered the five women a loan, letting them sign for it themselves, rather than requiring their husband’s signatures. For the early 1970s, that was an important victory.

 “It was very unusual then, and a very fine thing,” Martin said of the all-female venture.

Customers proved supportive. “The people of McMinnville wanted a bookstore, and we filled a need,” she said.

She recalled one couple who drove to Portland to look for books to give as Christmas gifts. They made a list, then returned to McMinnville to order the volumes from The Book Shop.

“This town was good to us,” she said.

Each Book Shop partner had a day on which she was responsible for the business, plus a day to serve as the assistant. Each had a specialty, such as ordering stock.

“We took care of each others’ kids and supported each other,” said Martin, a lifelong book lover. “It was very fun. How I miss those women!”

She enjoyed working with her co-owners and enjoyed the business. But she had always dreamed of a career selling houses. “I love people,” she said, explaining that a career in real estate would bring her into contact with people and give her a chance to guide and help them.

She loved looking at homes, as well. “I wanted a home in the country,” she recalled.

When she decided to change careers, she talked with her friend Marilyn Dell Worrix, then an agent and later an agent and broker at Willamette West. With her friend’s guidance, Martin earned her real estate license and joined the firm.

She spent the next four decades at Willamette West. After she became an agent herself, she mentored others, including her daughter, Stacy. “Then she was the Realtor and I was the flunky,” said Martin, who treasured the mother-daughter teamwork.

Martin was named Realtor of the Year in 1995. The award was one of many high points in what Martin called “a very satisfying career.”

“I enjoyed real estate, especially helping first-time buyers,” she said. She noted that people buying their first homes have a lot to learn, but also bring a great deal of enthusiasm to the process.

If they were new to McMinnville, as well as house buying, she relished getting to tell them about the “wonderful place” that would be their new home.

For Martin, the city’s wonders include its beauty and also its residents.

“The trees, the care people exhibit, the education system ... it’s been my joy to live in McMinnville,” she said. “I love this city.”

McMinnville isn’t perfect, she said, “but it’s still the very best I’ve ever seen.”

After Martin lost her husband and retired from Willamette West, she decided to spend more time helping her community. In particular, she said, “The plight of the homeless touched me.”

She became involved with First Baptist’s twice-weekly breakfast program.

She recalled the first meals only attracted half a dozen people. Now, they often draw 35 and sometimes 75.

First Baptist has since added a clothing program, along with showers, lockers and a portable rest room funded by the city but maintained by the church. Martin has contributed a table with such necessities as toothbrushes, razors, rubber bands, antibiotics and personal hygiene items, which she calls “the stuff of life.”

She advocates for homeless people, as well. Homelessness is an issue that should concern everyone, she said, not just churches and service clubs, but city officials and others.

Martin sees the need for advocating for the less fortunate; volunteering in existing programs and finding new ways to assist; creating safe places for street people to sleep and store their possessions; providing clean, safe public restrooms and showers. In addition, she said, she sees a special need for providing more mental health counseling instead of warehousing people in jail.

“We care about these people,” she said. “They are the people of McMinnville, too. I challenge everyone to help them.”