Gwen has lots of memories from her high school experience that include friends, teachers, and coaches. She came from a large family and was the oldest girl. Athletics were fairly new for girls at the time so her parents didn’t allow her to go out for volleyball, because her brothers were out for football. Gwen convinced them to let her go out for basketball and track with the help of her coaches and the practice times matched with her brothers wrestling practice as well as their track practice. Mrs. Bolinger was her basketball coach and helped her with track. Gwen said “She pushed me to go beyond what I thought I could do and made me a much better runner and basketball player.” She was also the reason Gwen loved biology. Mr. Flax was her accounting teacher and even though she never had him as a coach he was well respected in the community and was the head football coach. Mr. Schmidt (Bear) was her math teacher and helped with track. She said he was also very respected and loved by students and the community. Gwen would go to the football games with her parents on Friday nights and meet with friends. When there was a home game there was always a dance (sock-hop) in the gym after that they would go to. “That was where you met the guys”, Gwen said. She made so many memories.

After high school she attended K-State for 1 1/2 years on a nutrition/nursing degree. She attended K-state because all of her brothers went and back then you went to college wherever your family went, Gwen said. She left college to marry Jon Martin. She worked as a unit clerk at St. Francis Hospital for a year until she had her daughter Valerie. They lived in a duplex in Wichita, then moved to St. Mark’s where they rented a farmhouse and added 3 more children, Audrey, Jacob, and Jessica. While at St. Mark’s Gwen did daycare in their home and started coaching T-ball. They then bought a home outside of Andale from Jon’s great Uncle, where she still lives today and where they added 3 more children, Samantha, Alison, and Victoria. She continued doing daycare in their home and they began to get really busy helping out in the community. Father Eck asked Gwen and Jon to coach the CYO in volleyball and co-ed softball. They then became CYO advisors. She was also Alter Society treasurer and then president. She was also asked to coach the first little league girls basketball teams with Ruth Sobba and then later Renee Horsch, at Andale. In the summer she coached little league softball.

In 2000 she was hired to co-manage the Andale Pool with Luis Miererhoff. At 41 years old she completed the lifeguard training class at the Heskett Center WSU with a bunch of high school students who nick-named her “MOM”. She stayed after class with Luis to perfect her strokes and work on her rescues. She got lots of cheers from her fellow classmates when she completed her final rescue on testing day. She managed the Andale City Pool for 18 years, hiring lots of high school students each year to work as lifeguards. In 2000 she also stopped doing day-care and began driving the school bus for Renwick. With the help of  her Mother-in-law Karole Martin, she passed all the testing to get her CDL. She started out with 3 routes, morning, Kindergarten (1/2 day), and after school. She also got to drive the spirit bus to away games. After a couple of years, she started driving activities, and field trips along with the more experienced drivers. She was able to drive her kids and now her grand-kids on activities. Gwen loves being able to watch the kids she drives grow up to become kind, courteous, and respectful young adults, thanks to the parents, teachers, and coaches. Her job is so enjoyable because of them. She gets to see bright, cheery faces every morning. If you ask her what her greatest accomplishments are, she would say “My 31 years of marriage to my husband Jon and our 7 children!” Her greatest challenge would be having to continue on with life after losing Jon to cancer. With the help of her kids, grand-kids,family, relatives, friends, and the Andale community, she was able to make it through, though her life was forever changed.

I am blessed to have Gwen as my grandma. She is a kind, caring, and compassionate person who always puts everyone else’s needs before her own. She is a bright light to anyone who encounters her and always has an inviting smile. My grandma is not just my family’s gem, she’s also cherished by our community. Her love extends far beyond our family, enriching the lives of all who know her. She can be seen and also heard at almost all of her grand-kids events and tries her very best to go above and beyond for us all, and all of the students/kids she encounters on a daily basis.