Angelina Antoinette Martins

Angelina Antoinette Martins

April 20, 1930 - September 22, 2004

Angelina Antoinette Martins

April 20, 1930 - September 22, 2004

Obituary

ANGIE MARTINS

Born in Elizabeth, New Jersey on April 20, 1930 to Donato and Giuseppina Cirasella.

Eldest of two daughters — sister of Filomena

Attended school in Elizabeth, Graduated from Batten High School in 1948. She started her first job as a clerical assistant at the age of 14 in Elizabeth.

Met Mario in 1944 in junior high school. They were married on July 26, 1953 in Elizabeth.

Moved to Riverside California in 1955 and settled in Palm Springs. Angie worked as an executive secretary, stenographer and Notary Public.

Three children born in Palm Springs – Gregg 1957, Candie 1958 and Sue 1961.

Moved to Santa Monica in 1966 and lived there until 1969.
Angie worked as an executive secretary at the Rand Corporation.

Moved to Las Vegas in 1969 and stayed until 1972. Angie was an executive secretary for Steve Wynn and for Clifford Perlman, Chairman of the Board of Caesar’s Palace.

Moved to Mission Viejo in 1972 where she opened a delicatessen with here childhood friend, Marie Arras. After that, she worked for Hughes Aircraft as an executive secretary in Newport Beach and Rancho Santa Margarita until she retired in 1993.

Upon her retirement, she volunteered at two hospitals and a soup kitchen before deciding to focus her efforts at Saddleback Memorial Hospital. As a volunteer, she operated the baby photography program at the hospital and also worked at and trained volunteers for the information desk. She had completed nearly 4, 000 hours of volunteer work at the hospital.

She had 4 terrific grandsons – Drew age 14, Scott age 12, Alex age 11 and Michael age 9 – who she doted on and adored.

WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH YOUR LIFE?
By Mario Martins

After losing the most wonderful human being I have ever known, I have come to the conclusion that whatever God you believe in, will welcome you with open arms if you have done most or all of the following:

1. Loved those who loved you.
2. Loved those who didn’t love you.
3. Gave your children more moral, ethical and material wealth than was given to you.
4. Saw that your children achieved a high educational level.
5. Made sure your grandchildren received the moral and ethical values you gave your children.
6. Did some type of charity work.
7. Last but not least, left those whose lives you touched with fond memories of your love and caring. This will be your penultimate reward before you meet the GOD that will love you for eternity.
8. This was the life of my loving wife, ANGIE MARTINS

THE MANY FACES OF NONNI
By Gregg Martins

When her first grandson was born in 1990, we all started calling Angie ?Nonni? which is Italian slang for grandmother. I would like to share with you the many faces of Nonni.

She loved her grandsons. When they stayed at her house she served them ?Nonni’s Special Breakfast? – bacon, sausage eggs, pancakes, waffles, and hash browns. When she gave them baths, she would put their towels and pajamas in the dryer so that when they finished their baths they would have hot towels and pajamas. When my sisters and I were growing up, we didn’t get hot towels, we barely got hot water. In this role, I knew her as Nonni Poppins.

When she would nag my father when he had more than two cocktails, I knew her as Nonni Nation.

I knew her as Nonni Notary for her flawless typing and secretarial skills that stayed with her throughout her life.

She was Nonni Nickels for unending love of nickel slot machines.

I called her Nonni B. Anthony for her volunteer work during elections.

We all knew her as Nonni Nightingale for her nearly 4, 000 volunteer hours at Saddleback Memorial Hospital.

When she used to nag me about getting married and starting a family, I just called her MOM!!!

When she reminded me of her Italian mother, I called her Nonni Naples. Like grandma, she never missed a thing. She always forgave, but she never forgot.

And finally, I think we will all remember her as:
Mother Nonni Theresa for her sympathetic ear and her empathy and love for everyone she ever met.

Mom Was My Role Model
By Candi Mandinach

Mom was my role model. I loved that she had not just a job but a career. I was proud that she worked and I admired her for that. I loved all the jobs that she had. They were so fascinating. I always knew when I grew up I’d be like mom and have a career, even when I had a children.

I remember growing up that all my friends always wished that my mom could be theirs. I never wished that about any of their mothers. I had the best.

My mother was an incredibly talented woman. She was the best at what she did and her skills never ceased to amaze me. They even got me through my first year of college. Unlike my hard-working brother, if there was a shortcut, I was more than happy to take it. In my first year I had a very difficult English writing Humanities course. Like the great procrastinator I am, I used to wait until the night before the papers were due to write them. I would write the paper until 3 am. I would wake my mother up at 6 am. the morning the paper was due. She would take my almost illegible, barely intelligible rough draft and type a flawless finished 8-page essay in a half hour. She would correct my spelling and grammar as she typed. I would turn my papers in and when I got them back, there was never a red correction mark on them.

She always thought that she wasn’t as smart as dad and her children because we had all gone to college and she hadn’t. That always bothered me because she was one of the smartest women I knew. I tried to tell her that many times but she wouldn’t believe me. I wished she believed in herself a little more that way. We children all had to get those brains from somewhere.

Like her father before her, my mother was always taking care of people who had no friends or family in town whether they were new employees that were working for my dad or friends of hers or friends of my siblings or mine. So I grew up in a house constantly filled with people and friendship and love. Because of that upbringing, my home now is the same. My husband and I are forever ?adopting? people. And we carry on for my children her legacy of a house filled with people, friendship, and love.

My brother, my sister and I had a great childhood. We had wonderful, loving parents who taught us great moral values. My mother was an incredible woman whose very nature and actions showed us how to be responsible, caring, and loving adults. I am glad that we were children my mother was always proud of. I am also glad that we gave her grandchildren that she could be proud of. I only wish she could have been around long enough to see her grandchildren grow into the responsible, caring, and loving adults I know they’re going to be. That’s her legacy.

Tribute to Angie
By John and Susan Anderson

I’d like to now share a poem with all of you in honor of Angie. We
loved her and will miss her very much. The poem is by a gifted
poet named NIE-omi Shahib Nye. It is entitled KINDNESS.

KINDNESS

by Naomi Shihab Nye

Before you know what kindness really is
you must lose things,
feel the future dissolve in a moment
like salt in a weakened broth.
What you held in your hand,
what you counted and carefully saved,
all this must go so you know
how desolate the landscape can be
between the regions of kindness.

Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
You must wake up with sorrow.
You must speak to it till your voice
catches the thread of all sorrows
and you see the size of the cloth.

Then it is only kindness that makes any sense anymore,
only kindness that ties your shoes
and sends you out into the day to mail letters and
purchase bread,
only kindness that raises its head,
from the crowd of the world to say
It is I you have been looking for,
and then goes with you everywhere
like a shadow or a friend.

I’d like to read some words from Angie’s daughter Sue:

?What can I say about my Mom: I had the relationship with her that everyone wishes they could have with their Mother. She was my mom, my cheerleader, my best friend. And we could just never spend enough time together.

She was also the most wonderful grandmother to my boys Scott and Michael Of course she spoiled them rotten!!. And no matter how they behaved, they were always Nonnie’s little angels.

I’m so happy for our wonderful years together – you will always be in my heart. Your Sue Bean.?

Call Me Friend
By Ludy Ferreira

Here in this garden may you find peace
Where all your trials and woes will cease
If in our hearts where life abides
And in our souls where love resides
I hope that when we reach the end
Your heart and soul will call me friend

?To Those I Love and Those Who Love Me?
by Diana Urbanski

When I am gone, release me, let me go.
I have so many things to see and do.
You mustn’t tie yourself to me with tears.
Be happy that we had so many years.

I gave you my love, you can only guess
how much you gave to me in happiness.
I thank you for the love you each have shown,
but now it’s time I traveled on alone.
So grieve a while for if grieve you must,
then let your grief be comforted by trust.

TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL

Some people might liken Angie Martins to a guardian angel. Just shy of five feet tall, the 74 year-old grandmother of four always seems to be where she is needed most. For the past 10 years, that ?someplace? has been serving patients and families as a volunteer at Saddleback Memorial Medical Center.

New moms and dads at Saddleback know Angie as the photo lady. In addition to snapping the very first pictures of their newborn, she runs the baby photography program, which generates $5, 000 a year for the hospital. The proceeds are returned to the Saddleback Foundation to be used wherever critical hospital needs are identified. Angie appears like clockwork every morning, five and often six days a week, to capture that moment just before parents leave with their new baby.

The caring Mission Viejo resident has always been drawn to volunteering, but it wasn’t until she retired in 1993 from her job as an executive secretary at Hughes Aircraft that she was able to indulge her desire to help others.

?When I first retired, I gleefully told my husband Mario, ‘Now no one can keep me away from volunteer work’,? she remembers. She promptly joined the auxiliaries at two hospitals, including Saddleback, and the soup kitchen staff of a homeless shelter. When her doctor recommended that she cut back due to health reasons, Angie chose Saddleback as the beneficiary of her volunteer activities.

?I can’t say enough good things about Angie,? exclaims Collette Thilken, manager of volunteer services. ?She’s truly one of those unsung heroes working in the background.? In addition to running the baby photo program, she greets patients and visitors at the hospital’s front desk in the main lobby. She’s trained volunteers to man the desk for many years, serving as a role model for excellent customer service.

For Angie, her reasons for volunteering are very personal. ?I get to work in the happiest part of the hospital,? she says of her baby photography duties. And her experiences directing visitors at the front desk? ?Helping people is like therapy for me,? states Angie. She describes a recent experience where she walked a lost – and very grateful – 93-year-old patient from the hospital to her doctor’s appointment in the medical office complex next door. ?I got this euphoric feeling that yes, I am capable of helping other people,? she says.

But that’s just what guardian angels like Angie do.

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9 responses to Angelina Antoinette Martins

  1. Nellie Samse says:

    Dear Maz, reading Angie’s obituary reminded me of how giving she was when I first met her, as my Sunday School teacher in Elizabeth NJ. I was so proud to have known her. I felt so honored when she asked me to be a junior bridesmaid for the two of you. I know she will rest in peace with God.

  2. As long as I live I will remember all your kindness and when I go my five children will remember you dearly… We loved you, Ang

  3. In time we were considered new friends, but Angie made you feel that your relationship was a lifetime. There was no one quite like her – always a smile – “what can I do for you” attitude. We were so lucky to be a small part of her life. As Shakespeare once wrote: “When she shall die, take her and cut her out in little stars, and she will make the heavens so fine that all the world will be in love with night”. Although our hearts are heavy, we share fond memories of a lovely lady and a friend who will be missed.

  4. I don’t remember you, but I was searching some things on the Internet for my father Clifford Perlman. Best wishes to your family.

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