Kenneth Poe Funeral Services

August 28, 2026

CHARLOTTE - Mary Grace Martin died after a brief period of declining health on Friday August 28, 2026, at home under the care of VIA hospice and surrounded by family and her dear caregivers at Aldersgate Retirement Community. She was two weeks shy of her 88^th birthday.

Mary Grace Martin was born during The Great Hurricane on September 12, 1938, in Norwich, Connecticut, the only child of Eleanor Rose O’Neil and Hubert Augustus Downing. She was baptized at St. Patrick’s Catholic church where her parents were married. When she was two months old the family moved to Cleveland, Ohio where she spent her early youth. She thrived in Cleveland, made life-long friends there and developed a deep love for the Cleveland Indians (and later the Yankees), and baseball in general. She attended the 1948 World Series with her father, an experience she remembered vividly and she could still name the lineup for the Indians and the Boston Braves.  In 8^th grade, against her wishes and despite her threats to stay behind in Cleveland, the family moved to Buffalo, New York. She was a 1956 graduate of the New York Academy of the Sacred Heart.  As was to be the case everywhere Mary Grace lived, she again made lifelong friends at Sacred Heart with whom she kept in touch until the very end. 

Mary Grace graduated from Marymount College in Tarrytown, New York, in 1960 with a B.A in Communication Arts and Education and later earned her Masters of Science degree in Counselor Education from Western Illinois University in Macomb, Illinois. She went back to graduate school while working full-time, raising four children and somehow attending daily mass.

Mary Grace met David James Martin and they married at Saint Benedict’s in Eggertsville, NY in 1962.  They shared a love of the Catholic Church in the vein of Pope John Paul 2^nd and service was a tenant of their marriage. In 1977 Mary Grace and Dave moved from Ithaca, New York to Bettendorf, Iowa where they raised their children.  In 2001 they moved to The Villages, Florida where they both enjoyed much warmer weather, golf and other hobbies that come with that subtropical climate. When Dave passed away in 2023, Mary Grace moved to Charlotte, NC to be closer to her two daughters.

Mary Grace was a devoted and caring third grade teacher for her entire thirty-two year career, teaching in New York, Iowa, Australia (on a Fulbright Fellowship) and Florida.   She thrived in a Montessori type classroom. She started the Shooting Stars in the 80s which was a program to support kids who she deemed were at-risk of falling through the cracks in the school system. This was not a large governmental program; she simply recruited other dedicated teachers who were willing to be mentors to a child, and, by extension, to the child’s family, and to offer support in whatever way the child or the family needed. She kept in close touch with Lawrence Anthony Bonds, who was one of her first shooting stars, until the end.

From St. Catherine of Siena in Ithaca, New York to Our Lady of Lourdes in Iowa to Saint Timothy’s in the Villages to Our Lady of Assumption in Charlotte North Carolina, Mary Grace was always deeply involved with the Catholic church.  She loved, lived and was a shining example of the Catholic church’s call to service and often invoked Saint Teresa, whose mission was to help the poorest of the poor and to help the sick and the abandoned, to remind Mary Grace of that to which she should dedicate her life’s journey.

It is fitting that Mary Grace was born in a hurricane, as she herself was a force of nature, propelled by some innate and ineffable power. Action and service defined her, as reflected in her favorite pithy catchphrases: “If it takes fewer than two minutes, DO IT NOW”; “Any port in a storm”; “Bloom where you are planted”. Spiral notebook in hand, she was ever jotting to-do’s, reminders, thoughts for later consumption or notes to be communicated to friends and family. Powered by coffee and unbounded dynamism, she launched herself through the world with purpose, exhibited by a walking pace that is best described as meteoric. Even in the last several months of her life when she started using a walker, she not so much leaned on it as carried it – woe be to any device or person who might slow her down.

Long walks with Mary Grace were a gift – for those hearty enough to keep up - that included meaningful discussions on life, loves, challenges; conversations might wander into politics, faith and of course, baseball and her beloved Yankees. But her walking companions knew they dare not distract from or equivocate on the true target of Mary Grace’s inquiries. She was masterful at drawing out the import, the essence, the truth of a matter. She had the rare ability to identify the important things and shun the distractions that accompany the trivial, and through her example she helped many learn to do the same.  She was a master at meeting and connecting with people, and at connecting people to each other. She stayed in touch through emails, notes, letters, phone calls and whenever possible – in-person visits that preferably included a speed walk.

Most of all she loved her family, her beloved husband Dave, her children and their spouses along with her six grandchildren and three great grandchildren. To the end, she built community and family wherever she went. She hoped for all that we are blooming where planted.   

Mary Grace was predeceased by her beloved husband of 61 years, David James Martin. She is survived by her four children Stephen David Martin (Roxana) of Owatonna, Minnesota, James Downing Martin of Owatonna, Minnesota, Catherine Grace Martin of Charlotte, North Carolina, Elizabeth O’Neil Martin Kiser (Jamie) of Charlotte, NC; six terrific grandchildren Connor, Mary Cate, Webb, Myles, Theo and Ruby and three great grandchildren; Perry, Cliff and Ada Grace.

A memorial service for family and friends will be held on Mary Grace’s Feast Day; Tuesday, September 8, 2026 at 12:00pm at Aldersgate’s Fellowship Hall with a reception to follow. The address for Aldersgate is 3800 Shamrock Drive, Charlotte NC 28215.

There will be a graveside service in the future in New London, Connecticut where Dave and Mary Grace will join the O’Neil-Downing family plot.

Memorials should be sent to Lady of Victory in Lackawanna, NY. It was there that three of Mary Grace and Dave’s four children were adopted. In lieu of a memorial, take someone to coffee or have a breathless conversation on a speed walk, and celebrate Mary Grace’s life!

Arrangements are in the care of Kenneth W. Poe Funeral & Cremation Service, 1321 Berkeley Ave., Charlotte, NC 28204; (704) 641-7606. Online condolences may be shared at www.kennethpoeservices.com.