43
Eulogies for Martin recall her ‘willpower’
YOUNGSTOWN
When Judy Tarver checks her e-mail, she still expects a message from Vivian Martin.
“If I sent her an email at 6 o’clock, my phone was ringing at 6:10,” Tarver said. “We talked every day.”
Tarver, of Youngstown, was one of about 250 people who attended funeral services Tuesday for Martin, 67, at St. Andrewes African Methodist Episcopal Church. Martin was a real-estate agent whose body was found Sept. 20 in a home she was showing on the East Side. Two men are charged in her death.
Martin had just finished battling a second bout of colon cancer weeks before her death, and Tarver and some friends took her out to celebrate that final chemotherapy treatment about three weeks ago. Tarver said she worked at Essence Realty even through her illness.
“She’s a take-charge person,” Tarver said. “She was a thorough person. She dotted every ‘i’ and crossed every ‘t.’”
The Rev. Steven Jackson spoke of Martin’s recent battle with cancer and the funeral plans should the disease claim her life.
“There was a point when she battling that cancer when she called me and we talked about this day,” Jackson said. “She brought up the word ‘grace.’... She would want to make sure we all saw the grace of God.”
Cancer didn’t kill Martin, but Jackson remembered her funeral wishes and her spunky personality.
“When Vivian had chemo and lost her hair, she told me, ‘Reverend, I thought I was pretty enough and cute enough to walk around bald-headed,’” Jackson said. Martin would later buy a wig but never wore it.
“She just beat cancer,” Jackson said. “That’s what makes this day so unreal.”
Russel Neal of Akron, who knew Martin through the National Association of Real Estate Brokers, fondly described her as a demanding individual with a passion for her job.
“She made sure everything was done right,” Neal said. “She loved being able to help people and get them into homes.”
Martin was born in Niles and attended Youngstown city schools before dropping out in ninth grade. She would later go on to earn three college degrees including a master’s in science of organizational leadership from Geneva College, Beaver Falls, Pa.
During the service, Martin’s granddaughter Kysha Martin read a letter written by Martin’s daughter Davida Brown titled “My Mother is My Hero.” In it, Brown wrote that she was most inspired by her mother’s ability to raise two children as a single parent, battle cancer and continue her education later in life.
“I wish I had my mother’s willpower for education,” Brown wrote.
Artis Gillam, a friend of Martin’s since the second grade, spoke during the service, describing her as a feisty individual.
“If you knew Vivian, she would get on your nerves sometimes,” Gillam said, recalling snowy mornings at Madison Elementary School when Martin would tell him to help take off her snow boots.
“I’d tell her I wasn’t going to, and a few minutes later she’d say, ‘You ready to take my boots off?’” Gillam said. Gillam had a message for Martin on Tuesday: “I’m going to miss your smile. I’m going to miss you being a pain in the neck, but most of all I’m going to miss you.”
Martin was buried at Tod Homestead Cemetery on Belmont Avenue.