On this page we have selected photos and information and from Martha Riehle’s long and eventful life and from there we provide several links to specific items, including a summary of her genealogy, some family history, and photo collections related to specific topics or events.
(Click to enlarge)
14 November, 1917
(with Mary LeSaint, Marilyn Riehle & Bill Sheeron)
(c.1955)
(c.1957)
While recognizing a certain lack of objectivity in the fact she was so dear to us, we still cannot help but conclude that Martha LeSaint Riehle was truly an exceptional person. She was born on September 3, 1918 in Cincinnati, during her first of two global pandemics. She grew up in a poor family, with four siblings in a tiny house, literally adjacent to the railway tracks. She nonetheless earned a full scholarship and graduated summa cum laude in Mathematics in 1940, a time when women were not expected to pursue such an education. Brilliant but never arrogant, she was a committed wife and mother, raising five boys to be successful men with 26 grandchildren, 39 great-grandchildren and her first great-great grandchild. She influenced the lives of many through her teaching career, begun after graduation, interrupted by her focus on family, but later resumed. She married on October 18, 1941 as America approached entry into the war and bore her first son in Boston as she supported her husband, Joe, in his role with the top-secret defense project which advanced new and critically important radar technology.
Those who today might see her traditional roles as requiring a denial of her own priorities and ambitions did not know Martha. Loved and respected by hundreds, she continued to carry out acts of charity at a nearby seniors living facility into her 90’s, when many of those she supported were younger than she. When she gracefully accepted her own move to such a facility, she brought cheerfulness and optimism to fellow residents and care-givers alike.
Though nostalgic to the point of tears, we proudly rejoice in her incredible life.
More about Martha:
