Daily Sitka Sentinel

Martha Cline Peed

Martha Cline Peed

Martha Cline Peed passed away on Aug. 20, 2017, at Peppi’s House Hospice in Tucson, Ariz., with her family, friends, and faithful dog by her side. She was 75. 

Martha, and her twin sister, Marian, were born in Sandusky, Ohio, on Nov. 6, 1941, the daughters of Paul W. and Margaret S. (Seymour) Peed. They were raised in a house filled with love, music and conversation, and a proud Scottish heritage.

At an early age, Martha fell in love with the works of William Shakespeare and poetry. She also fell in love with the Samoyed dog breed, and often said “There is no dog in the world like a Samoyed.”

Martha came to Sitka in 1993 to live with her partner Molly. She took many classes at UAS, volunteered as an AARP Tax Aide, sold “Rafting Sea Otters” posters and other photos at Baranof Arts & Crafts Association and Old Harbor Books, studied the humpback whale populations of Southeast Alaska, had a one-month fill-in job at the Sitka Sentinel, and worked at Kettleson Memorial Library.

She discovered the benefits of moisture wicking socks and merino wool sweaters while living in Sitka.

Martha attended schools in Lima,  Ohio, and Indianapolis, Ind., graduating in 1959 from Warren, Pa., high school. She received a bachelor’s degree in English and community recreation in 1964 from Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio, and a  master’s in environmental education in 1987 from Michigan State Graduate Education Overseas program.

Martha believed in “lifelong education” and took coursework at 14 different colleges and universities. 

Throughout her life, she lived by the philosophy of “each one teach one.” 

During college, Martha had a summer job as the nature director for special needs campers at Camp Cornplanter in McKean County, Pa. She loved how the campers were fascinated with the simple beauty of nature. After college she taught a semester at Hartford, Conn., high school and then joined the Peace Corps. After several months of training at the Experiment in International Living in Brattleboro Vt., and labor and delivery training at Boston Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Martha was assigned from 1964 to 1966 in Goiana and Recife, Brazil. She started as a Visitadora Medica who went out into the Favelas to give vaccinations and assist in birthing babies, and then, with Roberta Lange, started Acampamento Jangada in Recife. Each Peace Corps Volunteer worked with local counterparts in outlying towns in the state of Pernambuco to select children for the week-long camp sessions. The Volunteers had to find a way to make camp clothes and swimsuits and arrange for transportation (sometimes a 14-hour ride over primitive roads). It was the first time many of the children had ridden in a truck, swum in the ocean, seen a movie or gotten a short “tourist” flight in an airplane.

Martha truly loved Brazil and the music, especially Bossa Nova. She sang and played her guitar with Brazilians and fellow Volunteers, and wrote several original songs in Portuguese. 

After Brazil, Martha traveled with friends by jeep, train, boxcar, bus and boat from Recife to Rio de Janeiro, Corumba, Santa Cruz, Cochabamba, La Paz, Lake Titicaca, Cusco, Machu Picchu and Lima to Guayaquil, Ecuador. After a month there, they hitched a ride with the Ecuadorian Navy on a WWII landing craft to the Galápagos Islands. 

After returning to the U.S., Martha wanted to “give back” to her community, and for six years taught English literature to 9th graders at Beaty Junior High School in Warren, Pa. She sponsored a bus trip each year for the English Club to see Shakespeare plays in Stratford, Ontario, with a stop at Niagara Falls, N.Y. In 1968 and 1971, she sponsored the 9th graders on summer study abroad trips to Europe. 

From 1972 to 1993, Martha taught English literature, health, and physical education at Frankfurt American High School in Frankfurt, Germany, with the U.S. Department of Defense Dependent Schools. She coached volleyball, and sponsored several activities including cheerleaders.

She traveled around Europe and to Egypt, Israel, Hawaii, Kenya, Australia, and Churchill, Manitoba. She loved to ski and chaperoned students on ski weeks at St Veit im Pongau, Austria. She met many wonderful students and colleagues in Frankfurt and felt honored to be their teacher and friend.

In 1981, Martha met Molly on a Veterans Day ski trip to Schnalstal, Italy. After several months of more ski trips, sailing trips, dinners, and movies, they decided they were “MFEO - Made For Each Other.” They became life partners, had a lot of fun, traveled to some incredible places, met fascinating people, shared the love of a number of exceptional pets, and loved watching good movies together. They told each other every day how lucky they were.

After 18 years in Sitka, Martha moved with Molly and dog Clark Kent to Tucson. She was happy to wake up to the blue sky, sunshine, and palm trees every day.

In 2013, Martha was diagnosed with endometrial cancer. She received wonderful treatment from the caring doctors, nurses, and staff at Arizona Oncology in Tucson, Tucson Medical Center and Peppi’s House Hospice.

In March 2017, Martha qualified for a clinical trial which combined the use of Lenvima and Keytruda. She was excited to qualify for the trial because she knew the information gained would help future cancer patients. In one last example of “each one teach one,” her sister Marian and Molly made a Whole Body Donation of Martha to Science Care to help advance medical science and give hope to future generations. 

Martha was preceded in death by her parents, Paul and Margaret Peed, her good friend Toby Erdmann, uncles and aunts, six Samoyeds, and many more loving pets. 

Martha is survived by her twin sister Marian P. Weisz of Watertown, N.Y; her partner of more than 35 years Molly Murphy of Tucson;her best friend from Warren High, Violet B. Wendl (Joe) of Tucson; her faithful Samoyed of 9 years Clark Kent of Tucson; her cousins Margaret Iversen (Larry) of Bremerton, Wash., and Ronald Simmermacher of Everett, Wash.; many cousins in Ohio, and her very good Peace Corps friends Suzanne Kelly of Ashland, Maine; Dorme’ (Larry) James of Mesa, Ariz.; and Mary M. Bek of Greendale, Wis.

No memorial services are planned at this time. At the time of Martha’s passing, family and friends read aloud their favorites poems and passages. Family and close friends will scatter Martha’s ashes at Niagara Falls next summer. 

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Martha’s memory online at tmcfoundation.org, Donate Now, Designation of “Hospice Services/Peppi’s House,” Tribute “In Memory” of Martha Peed, with funds designated for the construction of a dog park named “Clark’s Corner.” Donations by check can be mailed to TMC Foundation, Peppi’s House Hospice, In Memory of Martha Peed, 5301 E Grant Road, Tucson AZ 85712. 

“Goodnight, sweet Martha, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.”