Marty Everest

You can watch a video of some of our family singing "You Are My Sunshine" for Marty at this link https://vimeo.com/530108798

memorial service

Virtual Memorial Celebration

April 17, 2021

Thank you to everyone who joined us on the 17th

If you were not able to attend the online memorial and would like to view a video recording, go to:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOk63BEy6lw

to watch. This video is "unlisted" in YouTube so will not be found in a search. However, you are free to share the link with anyone who may be interested.

Funeral/Cremation Provider: Crescent Tide Cremation Services

Martha "Marty" Virginia (Watt) Everest, Age 77. Born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on the 4th of July, 1943. Our little firecracker. Favorite birthday tradition was a family picnic all day at the park, then fireworks at night. She loved to watch the display and say, "The whole country is celebrating with me!”

Marty grew up in Harrisburg, Lancaster, and York, Pennsylvania. As a young adult, she moved to Philadelphia where she worked as a travel agent. Next, she worked in Langhorne, Pennsylvania, as a recreation teacher at the Woods School for children with developmental disabilities. She was thrilled for this opportunity to honor the memory of her beloved friend and brother, Tommy, who had attended this school before he passed away when he was 12 and she was 11. After that, she met and married her husband in Philadelphia at Woodland Presbeterian Church. They moved to Minnesota in 1970. Marty resided in Roseville, Falcon Heights, and Minneapolis.

She was preceded in death by her parents Sidney S. and Dorothy V. (Moore) Watt and older brother Tommy. She is survived by her husband of 53 years, Gordon C. Everest; siblings: Sidney, Jr. and Lynda; 5 children: James, Robert, Mary (Andrés Moreno), Sarah, Peter; and 4 grandchildren: Jordan, Olya, Leonardo, and Lorenzo.

Marty had a kind and generous heart. She offered a warm welcome, friendship, and support to many. She was active in her children’s lives, her churches, and her local community. Marty was a very social person and she loved being around people, especially children. She volunteered in countless roles including with the League of Women Voters and as an election judge and precinct chair. In the 1970s, she started the I AM HIS club at North Heights Lutheran church—a program for people with developmental disabilities—which is still going strong today. She spread cheer in her homemade clown costume with the Powderpuff Clown Club. She donated her time as a school librarian and a youth soccer coach. And at Falcon Heights Church, she welcomed newcomers, sewed seasonal banners for the sanctuary, and created a children’s reading area with weekly activity baskets. Her caring nature bloomed in her professional work as a home health aide for Ramsey County and in sibling care for ECFE in the Roseville school district.

Some of Marty’s favorite things were flowers, monarch butterflies, loons, koala bears, dancing, and swimming. She loved music, singing her own soundtrack throughout her days, singing with friends and family, and singing with the Giving Voice Chorus for people with Alzheimer's and their care partners. She particularly loved musicals like “The Sound of Music” which she could sing from beginning to end. Now she’s joined the chorus of angels in heaven.

Memorial Donations

Rakhma Peace Home. https://www.rakhma.org/minneapolis-peace-home

Marty lived her last seven years cared for by a loving staff at the Rakhma Peace home (LTC), a converted duplex with ten women residents. She enjoyed friendships there with staff and residents, outings in the community, and regular visits from volunteers. Rakhma provides a social model of people-centered care at four locations.

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Falcon Heights Church UCC. https://www.falconheightsucc.org/

Marty was active in the Falcon Heights Church since 2004: serving on the worship committee, advocating for the children, making and sewing the colorful banners which adorn the front of the worship sanctuary through all the seasons of the church year, and especially helping on the welcoming committee. She delighted in giving new visitors a tour of the church facility.

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Giving Voice Chorus. https://givingvoicechorus.org/

Marty loved to sing. She and Gordon were founding members of the Giving Voice Chorus in 2014. The Chorus was started to give people with Alzheimer's and their care partners an opportunity to sing, to learn new music, to perform together, and to experience joy and community.

A Note from Gordon: Some of My Favorite Stories about Marty Trusting in the Lord

There are many things I could say about Marty, but let me focus on one particular theme: Marty trusting in the Lord and her willingness to help anyone in need, particularly the disadvantaged and people with developmental disabilities. It can be told in several stories. Often, she'd say "Lord willing" or when driving into a parking lot, "Thank you Lord for our parking spot!"

BROTHER TOMMY. Marty’s brother, Tommy, was just a year older than Marty. They were very close, and she adored him. At a young age he experienced frequent seizures, and several trips to Johns Hopkins University Hospital. He spent several years at Woods School in Langhorne, PA, for children with special needs. When he died at age 12, Marty wanted to help people like Tommy. As a young adult, the opportunity opened up: Marty worked as a travel agent, and she had a client who worked at Woods School who said they needed a recreation teacher. Marty jumped at the chance to work there to help children like Tommy.

MOVE TO MINNESOTA. When I was offered a one-year research position at the University of Minnesota, we decided to take it. Friends at our church said to be sure to look up Rev. George Knieriemen at North Como Presbyterian Church. While pulling a trailer across Wisconsin with our household belongings and having made no prior living arrangements, Marty was saying, "Wouldn't it be nice if the Lord had a place for us to stay with two bedrooms, a lawn, air conditioning, …" It was a Friday in June. On Sunday, we ended up at the church. At the end of the service, we turned and introduced ourselves to the people behind us. Turned out to be the Knieriemen family. After everyone had left, George joined us and after more sharing, they asked if we had any plans for dinner. Having none, they invited us to join them. They were leaving the next morning for a vacation in the Philadelphia area and had been unable to find someone to house sit for the next 6 weeks. Exclaimed George, "The Lord not only sent us a house sitter but a Presbyterian elder!" which Gordon was at Woodland Church. Those six weeks gave us time to find an apartment.

STAYING IN MINNESOTA. We hadn't been but a month in Minnesota when Marty observed the people (open and friendly), the climate (you could actually get a sunburn), clean air (you didn't have to wipe the soot off the window sills every week), informed public (city and state government political proceedings were actually broadcast so people knew what was going on and were involved). So, she told Gordon "If you go back to Pennsylvania (her home), you'll have to go back by yourself, I like it here!" Again, she trusted that would happen. During that first year, the University business school put Gordon through the interview process and, fortunately, made him an offer to join the faculty – an offer he, obviously, could not refuse. James was the first born that year. Marty felt the Lord wanted our children to be raised in Minnesota.

STARTING "I AM HIS" CLUB. At North Heights Lutheran Church in the late 1970s Marty had an opportunity to begin a ministry for people with developmental disabilities. It was another realization of her lifelong dream to support people like her brother. It started small but soon grew to serve over 100 people in a separate parallel church service. It is still going strong today.

CHOOSING THE NAMES OF OUR CHILDREN. This activity was primarily done by Marty. The naming of our two daughters was particularly significant. After getting pregnant with our third child, she felt the Lord tell her that it would be a girl. Both her pastor and her obstetrician were skeptical, but Marty remained confident and steadfast. Then the Lord gave her the name Mary Elizabeth. After Mary was born, we found out that my grandmother’s sister, who I always knew as Meg, was actually named Mary Elizabeth. Our third child was indeed a girl, and this family name further confirmed Marty’s sense of trust in the Lord. That, however, is only half the story. When she became pregnant again, Marty was not as confident that it would be a girl, so she picked out two names: Sarah Anne and John Peter. Well Sarah came first. After her birth, my aunt sent me a funeral notice for another sister of my grandmother whom I never knew. Her name… Sarah Ann.

FAMILY AIDE. When our children got older, a public health nurse for Ramsey County in our church told Marty about a job opportunity assisting families with infants who were considered at risk. She got the job and would visit about 15 homes every week or two. She thrived in the job and loved helping new mothers. She formed several close relationships even though she was cautioned by her bosses not to get too involved. Her feelings of love extended beyond professional support and grew into friendships and a community of care that lasted long after her employment as a family aide.

EARLY CHILD FAMILY EDUCATION. After Ramsey County cut funding for the family aide program where Marty was employed, she heard about an opportunity to work for the Roseville School District in sibling care for families who had children in ECFE. Again, she was doing something she loved, supporting children and their families.

CLOWNING. Along the way, Marty took up clowning. She studied the different types of clowns, learned how to apply the makeup, sewed her own outfit, and, most importantly, learned how to minister to children as a clown. She took the name "Efilwen" which is "new life" spelled backwards. Marty was keenly aware that children were sometimes afraid of clowns or reluctant to approach them. She did everything to overcome that barrier and create a fun and welcoming persona as a clown. She also taught classes in local churches to show people how to be a clown – dressing, applying makeup, and behaving. And she involved our two daughters, too, sewing clown outfits for them and bringing them to events so they could all clown together.

OUR JOURNEY THROUGH CHRISTIAN DENOMINATIONS. This process was quite varied: Presbyterian (Woodland, North Como), Lutheran (North Heights), Charismatic (Church Upon The Rock), Assemblies of God (YWAM), Baptist (Grace Church of Roseville), finally ending up at Falcon Heights Church UCC. When we described this journey to our new pastor, and noting that Gordon grew up in the United Church of Canada, the pastor said, "Sounds like you have found your way back home." Indeed, we felt we had found a home in a loving and accepting community. Marty was the driving force in every move we made – another example of trusting in the Lord's leading.

FALCON HEIGHTS CHURCH. Marty served on the worship committee, advocated for the children, sewed the colorful banners which adorn the front of the worship sanctuary through all the seasons of the church year, and especially helped on the welcoming committee. She delighted in giving new visitors a tour of the church facility and telling them all about our loving and accepting church. And she loved supporting children at the church: playing with them during the service, helping them when they needed help, and creating a kid’s area at the back of the sanctuary full of children’s books and activities.

Marty's trust in the Lord gave us both a sense of calm and comfort.