Daily Sitka Sentinel

Marcelina “Mama Lee” Miguel Martin

    Services for Marcelina “Mama Lee” Miguel Martin have been scheduled.
    A viewing will be at Prewitt’s Funeral Home 5-8 p.m. Oct. 26 and Oct. 27. The funeral Mass will be at noon Monday, Oct. 28, at St. Gregory’s Catholic Church. Burial will be at Sitka Memorial Park, followed by a reception to celebrate her life at the church’s Corrigan Hall.
    Marcelina was born Oct. 11, 1923, in Kahuku, Hawaii, the daughter of Eugewnio and Fortunata Miguel. The family returned to the Philippines when she was 4, and she attended elementary school there, growing up with a sister and a brother.
    She married Ceferino Martin on June 14,1945. He was a soldier, and they lived in Baguio City and Manila until they went back to Laoag City to settle down and raise their growing family. They were blessed with seven children: Herminio, Josefa, Victorina, Ceferino Jr., Rodolfo, Susie and Warlee.
    Marcelina was a homemaker, and oftentimes supplemented the family’s livelihood by doing other people’s laundry. On market days she bought and sold, usually piglets.
    Life was hard but the home was always full of love, shared with family and friends, her family said.
    She loved to sing, and always sang a tune or two with her husband before bedtimes.
    Because of life’s hardship, she was convinced to come to the United States in November 1973 to follow her children in Honolulu, Hawaii. In September 1977 she came to Sitka to help daughter Josie, who was getting ready to have a baby. She went back to visit family in Hawaii several times since then.
    She was the family’s rock, the glue and, most of all, “the wind beneath our wings!” her children said. “She was the reason of the family, and extended members why, how and who we are today.”
    Her legacy will live on, they said, “and we are very grateful for what you’ve given to all of us so generously.”
    Her greatest joy was her grandchildren and one great-grandchildren, whom she took care of when they were little. The kids always ran to Mama Lee, as they called her, for easy access to day care and food – she always had something prepared.
    “The kids always said, when you are hungry you go to Mama’s,” family said. Now, most of the grandchildren live in Hawaii, Arizona, Washington, Florida and Alaska.
    She would light up when the kids came around, and you couldn’t tell if she wasn’t feeling well.
    The past year was very different for her. She was in and out of the hospital, but she was such a fighter. She enjoyed the summer, when she would be driven around town always stopping by for a no-sugar-added ice cream at Harry’s Soda Shop.
    But the highlight of her year was her 90th  birthday earlier this month. She was excited and surprised when family members from out of town came for a big aloha-themed birthday celebration as a reminder of her birthplace.
    She wasn’t feeling too well, but fooled everyone, showing only happiness and joy. “She was beaming and like a child at a candy store” at the party, her family said.
    “She was all smiles and such a joker. She was singing, joking and playing around. This we will surely miss of her. The life of the party.”
    When her chronic renal failure that she battled for over 10 years had taken over, she didn’t fight anymore. The good Lord called on to her on Wednesday morning, Oct. 23, at Sitka Community Hospital, where she was surrounded by family members.
    “We thank the generosity of loving care and support of Sitka Fire Deparment-EMS, Sitka Police Department, Center for Community, Sitka Community Hospital entire staff, Dr. Hunter, Prewitt’s, Father Peter Gorges and Father Jim Blaney, and St. Gregory’s family, friends and family,” her family said.
    She was preceded in death by her parents; sister Isabel Barroga; husband Ceferina Sr.; sons Herminio and Ceferino Jr.; daughters Josefa and Victorina; and two grandchildren.
    Survivors are her son Rudy Martin and family of Juneau; daughters Susie Martin of Seward and Warlee Martin Gonzales of Sitka; and brother Hilarion Miguel and family of Sitka.
    Numerous nieces and nephews, grandchildren and great-grandchildren from Hawaii, Arizona, Washington state, Florida, Alaska and the Philippines also survive.
    Pallbearers are Pete Villanueva, Rod Racaza, Levie Cumlat, Marvin Partido, Victory Villanueva, Robert Ancheta, Edmon Dumag, Oly Suygay, Trevan Frank and Fernando Villanueva.