Los Angeles
County
Biographies
MARTHA M. BALDWIN
(Deceased)
A
gallant lady passed away at the age of seventy-seven nine years ago, but her
memory lives on in Alhambra and in the field of education where she did so
much. Mrs. Baldwin had the honor of
seeing Martha Baldwin School at 900 South Almansor
dedicated in 1950. She had devoted her
life to better schools and aid to the children who attend them. It was under her leadership that the
Post-Advocate Milk Fund for schoolchildren was given added impetus with the
founding of an “everyday rummage sale” that eventually led to the establishment
of the Parent-Teachers’ Association Thrift Shop. A member of the Alhambra Board of Education
from 1935 – 1942, Mrs. Baldwin was president of the board in 1937, served as a
member of the Grand Jury during the 1930’s, and held the office of playground
commissioner for Alhambra. Due to her
numerous Parent-Teachers’ Association activities, among them recreation
chairman for the state association, Mrs. Baldwin was elevated to president of
the First District of the California Congress of Parents and Teachers.
Born
in Galion, Ohio, on January 15, 1875, Martha M. Baldwin was the daughter of
Nicholas and Margaret Vetter who were born in Germany
and who died when their daughter was small.
Mrs. Baldwin came to California in 1898, to Los Angeles, the same year
that she was married to Harry C. Baldwin, and moved to Alhambra in 1919 where
she compiled a long list of awards in her career of public service. Her good friend was the late Eleanor Carroll
whose husband was on the Alhambra City Council in the 1920’s and whose
daughter, Esther Snell, is employed at the Alhambra Board of Education office.
Mrs.
Baldwin was the mother of two sons and a daughter, and had three
grandchildren. William J. Baldwin, her
son, lives in Alhambra and is a locomotive engineer for the Santa Fe Railroad;
Harry Bernard Baldwin is the son with whom Mrs. Baldwin had been living in
Rosemead at the time of her death; her daughter, Mrs. Helen Margaret (Baldwin) Gatterdam passed away in 1960.
Transcribed by
V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
Historical Volume & Reference Works Including Alhambra, Monterey Park,
Rosemead, San Gabriel & Temple City, by Robert P. Studer,
Pages 811-813, Historical Publ., Los Angeles, California. 1962.
© 2013 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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NUGGET'S LOS ANGELES BIOGRAPHIES