Tributes

Barbara Ann Marta was born in Detroit, Mich., to Dorothy and Karl Liedl, the youngest of three children. Growing up, she always loved cats, and was known to occasionally dress them up in her doll clothes. With her best friend Ann, she sold poppies for Veterans day, played hop scotch and played on the swings. She and her friends fashioned a cook stove out of a coffee pot to cook bacon while pretending to be "camping" in a nearby field. She attended Cass Tech High School, in Detroit, a school well known for its arts and other technical programs. She excelled it the fine arts, studying painting, sculpting and costume design. In one famous story, she made herself a crinoline slip to give her stick-straight body more curves. But the snap closure of the slip came undone on the way to church and began to slip down as she walked from the car. She said, "Dad, in a few steps, something is going to fall to the ground and I am going to step out of it. You will pick it up." He asked her what he was supposed to do with it once he picked it up and she told him, "Put it in your hat."As a young woman, she held a variety of jobs, including at the soda fountain at Sanders, a local candy company, the Federal Reserve Bank (her job was counting money), and in the alterations department of an upscale bridal boutique. She attended Wayne State University to continue her art studies. That's where she joined the Newman Club and met her husband of nearly 57 years, Francis Marta. Francis sought her out after he and a friend used their skills learned in a handwriting analysis class to assess the list of freshman girls at the Newman club for prospects.Francis lived upstairs, so Barbara would come between her classes and play Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata so he would know she was there. They married and quit school to work and raise a family. They lived in Detroit for a few years before moving to Lexington, Ky., Cleveland, North Canton and Canton, Ohio. With her family of six kids, she relocated to Oregon in 1971, where she had two more. Despite being from the Midwest, she never wanted to leave the towering Douglas Firs, gentle rains, mountains and coast. As a parent, she wasn't excitable, but always excited for you. She let us get into minor scrapes and misadventures, helping us on the way to learn in the way that we needed to. While in Oregon, she bowled at Valley Lanes in a Friday morning league for more than 30 years. She also gave walking tours to school children through the Urban Tour Group. She was active at St. Cyril's Catholic Church in Wilsonville, teaching CCD, making banners, singing in the choir and playing music for mass. She also continued her arts pursuits, filling the house with her paintings, making jewelry and other creative arts. Family was always very important to Barbara, who never missed an opportunity to celebrate holidays, birthdays and other important events for her children and 10 grandchildren. We will miss her every day.

Tributes

Barbara A. Marta (Liedl)

August 4, 1934 - July 21, 2012