Sally Mae Martin

Sally Mae Martin (Nee Smalley) October 31, 1931-March 6, 2024 Sally Martin moved on to what comes next early on a Wednesday morning in Traverse City, Michigan. She was 92. She lived her life well and worked conscientiously to integrate its important elements: She was the loving wife and partner of John Gilbert Martin, the mother of four children she raised in the turbulence of the 1960s and 1970s, a steadfast friend to people of her past and present. In her city, Flint, Michigan, she forged a path from her working class upbringing to become an expert technologist as a payroll specialist with General Motors and later, Electronic Data Services. One of her strongest childhood memories was of her mother, Evelyn Smalley, taking her as a five year old to bring lunch to her father, Orin, who was on the picket line during the great sit-down 1936-37 strike. That strike helped change history, and may have shaped the view of a little girl who saw herself walk past the barricades and do something important in the shadow of the great factory where her dad worked. In a time when few women in her experience led lives as professionals, Sally learned to use early computer systems in the offices of Buick Motors in Flint, handling GM’s corporate U.S. savings bonds program. She was a member of the Industrial Business Girls and always able to present herself as a professional. As she moved through a series of jobs to reach the higher levels of technical ability, she was always eager to learn the next thing, from learning Bell Telephone’s PBX switchboards, accounting work on the comptometer and the 10 key adding machine, to data input on IBM computer punch cards. Sally would want this appreciation to start with family, to her her most important of her roles in life, but her work in industry provided a large part of the basis for the Martin family’s success. John had a successful career as county employee with the Genesee County Road Commission, and Sally’s good salary and benefits allowed for many things that families with one income did not have—vacations, quality vehicles, a corner house in a decent neighborhood. Her work became her identity in her life outside the home, just as it did for most men in Flint. She manged to be a caring, nurturing parent in the midst of these accomplishments: She typed the kids’ papers, helped with homework, attended PTA meetings. When she had the chance, she walked with her kids through blocks shaded by great elm trees to the best library around (in Civic Park) and just let them explore. She and John enjoyed life as fully as almost anyone can. With their best friends, Doug and Dee Morris, they found time to go to places like the Russellville Ballroom, where they danced to live jazz and Big Band music. She loved to listen to John’s piano every evening and their soundtrack included musical diversity that ranged from Charlie Pride to Lena Horne, from Tommy Dorsey to Dixieland. When they found a local band they loved, they followed it as closely as they could. In her final years, Sally found a great love for Billie Holiday, whose soulful blues eased the long hours of her sunset years. Sally Martin was a great mother, a steadfast partner, an insatiable reader, and an outstanding manager of her family and for her employers. She worked hard to maintain friendships and forged a life with living. During our school years, her long days often ended with her in her living room chair with a book in her hands while we kids and sometimes our dad watched television. When the snoring started, we had to yell, “Mom! Go to bed now!” We should have added, “Thanks for all that you do.” Sally was preceded in death by her loving husband, John and devoted daughter, Kathryn Bamberg. Sally is survived by her children, Elizabeth Ann, Michael John, and John Jay; her grandchildren, Kara Buyze, Brigid Martin, Jeneil Bamberg, and Chris Bamberg; her great-grandchildren, Lilyan and Zander Buyze and Julian Bamberg.

Sally Mae Martin

October 31, 1931 - March 6, 2024