Mary Lunetta Martin celebrated her eighty fourth birthday this last March. She is a woman short of stature, sure-footed, spry in nature and soft-spoken. What drew me to her when first meeting her, at St. Peter's Table, held at Casa Italiana, in Los Angeles, was her positive spirit, her engaging personality and her laugh, which was constantly present as she talked. I was there, on March 17, to photograph the progress of the crew who were setting up the main tables for the following three-day celebration. For at least the last twenty years, since her husband died, she, along with at least one hundred other volunteers, ten of who were octogenarians, as she is, have loyally served on the committee to organize St. Joseph's Day for her church and community.

Mary's interests are as varied as her 'old days' stories are, both of New York City, New York, where she was born and raised, and of Los Angeles, California, where she has lived for the most part of her adult life. Now, in the twilight of her years, Mary belongs to and is extremely active in many organizations and functions connected with her ethnicity, her church, St. Peter's Italian Catholic Church, and, in particular, her Sicilian heritage. She has been active with ICF, Italian Catholic Federation, since 1960, now serving as it recording secretary, as well as a trustee in the ICF Los Angeles District. She is also an active member in both the St. Anthony and St. Lucy Societies. All meet monthly at Casa Italiana to plan out their year's fundraisers, many of which benefit those organizations that represent the less fortunate.

Mary was born in Manhattan, New York City, New York, on March 17, 1917. She was one of the youngest of ten children of immigrant Sicilian parents. Her parents had met and married in Palermo after her father's family, originally Albanese, from the eastern side of Sicily, migrated there. After their first child was born, they immigrated to New York City. From there, in 1959, her family migrated to Los Angeles. With her father, mother and one other sister, she joined another one of her sisters, who was already living there. By her own admission, she was extremely loyal and devoted to her family, living at home, until she married, when she met Jack Martin, in Los Angeles in 1963, at the age of forty-eight.

A short time later, in 1965, their courtship ended when they married at Sacred Heart Church, in Lincoln Heights, Los Angeles, California. After their marriage, in 1967, Jack and Mary settled in a home in Alhambra, California. After working most of her adult life as a seamstress, first for Wonda Bra, then for Beauty Fit, then for Virginia Wallace Lingerie, she retired from the undergarment industry. Mary's husband passed away after seventeen years of marriage leaving her a widow for the past nineteen years.

Living in the same home she and Jack bought early in their marriage, Mary still lives an active life today spreading her time between her family, church and societies. Although she had no children of her own, Mary counts her many niece's and nephews as her own.

Currently, Mary is in Jackson Heights, Long Island, where she will stay for approximately the next three weeks helping her younger sister Mildred recover from throat surgery. She called me before she left promising to return to take up her charitable work where she had left off. She is already mentally preparing for the upcoming 2002 St. Joseph's feast days.

MARTY'S SIDE NOTE:
While my editor, Marie Giusto Villarreal, is far from approaching her octogenarian years I would nonetheless like to use some of my space on THE PRESSPOINTS NetNews to praise her bold move in changing her career path in the twilight of her years. She has done what I have been struggling to do since I left college some umpteen years ago. Under all of our very noses, she became an author! I have seen part of her first manuscript, "The Oedipus Syndrome", which she wrote using her maiden name, and which is in huge loose-leaf volumes. Privileged to be among the first to read E-Book One, I found it a riveting platform that launches the story of Raf Frataleon, a successful businessman who, at the pinnacle of his career, is near retirement. Tragedy strikes Raf and he finds himself at a crossroads recalling the circumstances that brought him to his present day turning point. E-Book One is the introspective view of a man who, like Oedipus, gave away his most productive years to benefit those he loved and cherished the most, his family. I can't wait to read the ensuing E-Books of "The Oedipus Syndrome".

EDITOR'S NOTE:
Marty will be periodically writing his cameo's on octogenarians. He has a notebook full of short biographies of geriatrics, those of whom have blasted past their crucial mid-century years to enter into another phase of their productive lives. Contact him on site; http://www.4pointspress.com or direct your email to the Editor.