I got word of the untimely death of a college roommate this month. I figure she couldn't have been more than 52 so it was a very untimely and unexpected death. I had just met with her recently at the Temple. She looked and acted extremely healthy. I am so glad we got to see each other when we did.
I was a junior the year she started as a freshman at BYU and lived with me and 4 others in the new Family Living Center.
After I graduated and taught for a year in Billings, Montana another college roommate Colleen and I traveled through California to find a great place to teach and we found it in San Diego.
Two years later Marta graduated and wanted to come live with us so we changed our residence and moved to Hillcrest from North Park. She was not a teacher but worked for the big company Convair and it was a very good job.
I married about a year or two later but we both had our first baby boys about the same time and Quentin did bring them all down to San Diego and I have a movie of our little pre one year old boys in a playpen tyogether. They actually named their first daughter Janet, after me!!!
What amazed me and even her husband was the huge turnout for her funeral, much more than a ward and family for sure. This was his words in a letter he wrote to me later. "I am ashamed that I was so unaware and insensitive to the extent to which Marta had touched peoples lives. She did not speak often of what she said or did as she talked and helped people, and maybe that was why so many would talk to her in confidence and listen to her counsel. There were so many like yourself who at great personal sacrifice traveled great distance to be at her funeral. The service was indeed an indication of just how many people considered her to be their friend. She spoke of you often, held you in high regard and regretted that she could not see you more often. As I have been able to step back and view the events surrounding her death I can see the hand of the Lord moving in many ways. What are the odds for us to meet at the temple the week before that caused you to be able to communicate with her. I can assure you that it was a special time for to be able to talk to you even for a short time."
Marta was a great listener, I know, and always comforting with a quiet word of hope or encouragement.
In the autopsy it was determined a cancer she had 20 years ago had returned and her immune system shut down and could not fight the infection in her body, though they were using the strongest drugs they could.
Quentin said, "Let me assure you that I am comfortable with her passing, she had finished her mission here. She had received a blessing twenty years ago that enabled her to remain and raise her children after her diagnosis of terminal cancer. "
Marta was a very precious soul who lived a very worthy life, she will be missed.
Quentin and Marta