Current Conditions
31°F - M/CLOUDY
(120) (58) (30) (7)
"I've always had an interest in other people," Martin said. "I didn't live for self alone. It's nice to help serve one another while serving the Lord."
To celebrate her grandmother's birthday, Rebecca Martin, an accomplished mezzo-soprano from Nuremberg, Germany, will present a concert at 4 p.m. Sunday in the chapel at Garden Spot Village, 433 S. Kinzer Ave., New Holland.
Rebecca Martin, who will be accompanied at the piano by Marvin Blickenstaff, will perform a variety of songs in English and German, including works by George Frideric Handel, Franz Schubert, Aaron Copland and Felix Mendelssohn.
There is no charge for the concert, but guests may make a contribution.
Friends also are invited to a drop-in party in the Gardens West Conference Room at Garden Spot Village from 1 to 4 p.m. today. There will be a pictorial presentation of her family at 2:30 p.m.
Born in Caernarvon Township on Oct. 31, 1909, Martin was one of five children of Eaby and Ida Sauder.
Even though her birthday was on Halloween, Martin didn't get much candy.
"Years ago we did not (go trick-or-treating). We didn't dress up. We didn't hear about witches and goblins," she said.
Holiday birthdays ran in their family, Martin said. Her younger sister, Cora Sweigart, was born on Christmas Day.
Martin attended a little country school in Smoketown. Because it was only a quarter-mile from her home, Martin said she came home for lunch, except on rainy days when she would pack.
She said she always walked to school, even through the snow.
"Sometimes when it was so high and crusty, I walked over the top," she said. "There were hazelnut bushes along a fence, which was a good barrier for the snow."
Martin also recalled that when World War I was over, her teacher rang the school bell, and the church bells were rung.
"I remember how happy and gay we were," she said.
She went to school until she was 15. She said she didn't attend high school because it was 8 miles away — too far from her home.
Martin worked at a Churchtown shirt factory, sewing pockets onto men's work shirts, for two to three years. She also worked at the New Holland ReUzit Shop and in families' homes if they had any needs.
She met her husband, Daniel H. Martin, at a young people's meeting at Weaverland Mennonite Church. The couple married on Nov. 22, 1930, on her husband's 26th birthday. He died in 1976.
"We had an orchard (which grew peaches, apples, plums and pears) in New Holland and then bought a farm" where they grew corn, wheat and alfalfa, she said. "We had plenty of room for the children to grow and work."
The couple had seven children, 23 grandchildren and 31 great-grandchildren.
The children sold tomatoes along the road.
"It kept them occupied," Martin said.
When Martin left the farm, she moved to East Main Street in New Holland, where she had a big garden and room for boarders.
Martin moved to Garden Spot Village in 1996 when the retirement community opened.
A genealogy expert, Martin said there is "something neat" about learning about your biological relatives.
In 1985, Martin published a genealogy of her husband's grandfather, Bishop Jonas H. Martin.
Four years later, Martin began tackling her mother's family, Amos W. and Elizabeth H. Martin.
Last year, Martin was the inspiration for a new genealogical book on her ancestors Samuel G. Sauder and Elizabeth Eaby, put together by her son, daughter and two others because of Martin's macular degeneration.
