Obituary of Marie Martinez

Marie C. Martinez was one of ten children and was the last surviving child of parents Selia and Jose Guerrero. Born in San Diego, California in 1928, Marie was one of four girls growing up in California before making her life in Colorado. During her childhood Marie was a regular kid never having to worry about things like play dates because of all her siblings. Marie always shared stories of how kids found ways to entertain themselves with the life around them, such as enjoying the outdoors of sunny San Diego, but life in the sun was not always so easy, sometimes there were disagreements between kids. In one particular instance when Marie was in grade school there was a girl who would regularly call her bad names. Eventually Marie grew tired of this and decided to make it stop. So one day Marie ran up to the girl and punched her right in the nose, making her bleed, she then wiped the blood all over the little girls face and walked away. This is hard for us to conceive since Marie was usually mild mannered in her adult life, but let us not forget she was also a tough woman. As time moved on and Marie was becoming a young lady, she witnessed the impact of the WWII conflict. It was during this time that woman were the ones working in the local military industry. Marie herself contributed to the local industry by working with military aircraft. It was not unusual to walk in busy sections of the city and see large artillery equipment camouflaged in case of an attack or experience air raid sirens. Marie spoke of how everyone had to turn off their lights and see the sky lit up with large steaks of light from the protecting military spotlights. Living in San Diego, many citizens worked in the fish canneries and around 1947, Marie was doing the same. She worked there along side her mother when during a lunch break Marie commented to her mother in Spanish of a young man nearby, not knowing that he understood what she said. That young man would become her husband in 1948 at the Yuma Wedding Chapel in Yuma, Arizona. Marie and Charley lived in San Diego before becoming permanent residents of Colorado and raised their five children. Marie did not adjust to Colorado right away. Since she was a city girl and knew nothing about chopping wood, outdoor restrooms, getting water from a well and dealing with cold snowy Colorado winters. Upon returning from a visit from San Diego in 1962, Marie had enough of the country life and the family resettled in Denver. In Denver, Marie was a stay at home care giver raising her children and also worked as a baker in the Denver Public school system for over twenty (20) years. She mentioned how her job really saved her when she became a widow in 1985. Marie was eighty- nine years old when she passed on June 5th and was part of that generation when life started out very simple. People knew their neighbors and those neighbors were either related or became related later through marriage. Not everyone had a car but bus fare was maybe ten cents. People did not have a lot of money but had farm animals or gardens to feed their kids. People from that generation survived the depression and never forgot and as a result knew the value of a dollar and how it could be gone in an instant. Marie saw her mother become a widow when her father died at the age of forty-one (41) and leaving nine children. Marie’s children believe that one life event alone was a contributing factor to Marie’s strong character and tenacity when life brought on unexpected events. Marie loved her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. She welcomed those surprised visits from her extended family and enjoyed dancing with her husband and adored her pet companion Michi. She was very loved and will be missed.