Tamara Ann Cibellis Martin (b. Dec. 31, 1959; Fullerton, Calif.) was a gift for a new decade, a new years baby on the cusp of a very different time in America from what had comes before. Named Tamara by her father — after a character played by Debbie Reynolds in a 1950s film — she was known as “Tammy” to her Garden Grove, California family. She was known for always being there for you, always ready with a hug.
You could depend on the girl “Tammy.”
She would modestly attribute her photographic memory to her academic success even when her intellectual ability catapulted her into California’s “Major Work” program in the Garden Grove Unified school system, led by one of her favorite teacher's, Miss Agajanian, in 4th grade. Tamara excelled at school and in life. And academics wasn’t her only strong suit.
Like her Aunt Louise, she too was a tomboy who excelled not just at school but in life turning her hand to the scouting, painting, horseback riding, and sailing to name just a few. Her endless curiosity led to hobbies for a time in all those areas, filling her parents’ Garden Grove home with oil and watercolor paintings of scenes from her horseback riding days with a loving reflection on the hills and trails she rode.
Not contented to just be a studious girl, she led by example, rather than telling others that they too should be multi-talented and service-oriented. In her ‘tween and teen years, she passed the Red Cross lifeguard exams and worked as a lifeguard summer on summer. She never lost her love of participating in the Girl Scouts outings which would bring her back to nature away time and again helping to inspire another generation of youngsters to be leaders in the Girl Scouts community.
She graduated from Garden Grove High as “Girl of the Year,” nominated by her fellow Girls League members and interviewed by a panel of judges before being selected. This recognition from an organization she cared greatly about was one of her happiest moments from her early days of success and service, which she shared enthusiastically with her Aunt Fil living 3,000 miles away. No matter the distance, the miles between her and her east coast family never felt distant. And thanks to her cousins and their parents, she had them to lean on as her health became a struggle.
“Tammy” became “Tamara” as she continued her academic journey at the University of California, San Diego in 1978. After a rocky first year getting to know life without her Garden Grove family, she quickly found her footing in a new world with new friends and a guy called Mark. She had the opportunity to work with Moon rocks in Dr. Jim Arnolds lab; was a member of student government and participated in various clubs such as dance.
In the coming months and years of her undergraduate experience, Mark and Tamara began to build their lives together, starting with their years in Solana Beach, a place Tammy adored. Living near the ocean gave her a daily view of her favorite color, “ocean blue,” which inspired and grounded her.
She went on to gain her master’s in psychology at Loyola Marymount in the Los Angeles area and then came to Washington, DC, and Arlington, Va, for a time while Mark finished Dental School at Georgetown Dental School. After Mark was done with school, they left the mid-Atlantic to move back to be near family in the Escondido area and together built Mark’s dental practice after Tamara worked for years as a counselor in San Diego’s Hillcrest neighborhood helping troubled individuals get back on their feet and off the streets. Throughout the years she would tell stories about her time counseling in every low income neighborhood from Washington D.C., Los Angeles, to San Diego.
Over the years, she and Mark built a life together in Escondido they were fortunate enough to bring Emily Martin(ez) into the world. Tammy lived to see Emily grow into one heck of a self-sufficient woman up from the kind of girl that Tamara had been when she was young too. She was so proud of everything Emily achieved and achieves still to this day. Most of all, Tamara came to rely Emily's composer and how she would advocate for her during her extended journey from health to her recent passing. Tamara could rely on Emily. The apple didn’t fall far from that tree. As her Aunt Ginnie says: “What bespeaks the woman she became, comes from the girl she was.”
In her final years, Tamara and her cousin Jimmy, a fellow cancer survivor, reached out across the miles that separated them to talk through their experiences and feel the love and trust created by their family bond that began as children. In their prime, they had each other to not only lean on, but also to gain advice and guidance from one another. That sense of the value of family served Tamara throughout her health journey.
Tamara is survived by her siblings Michael, Matthew, and Nicole, her many cousins including Jimmy (a fellow cancer survivor), Brian, Doug, and Pearse, as well as Lois, Kenny, and David. As children, Tamara grew up knowing them all in a way that created life-long bonds that helped her through her particularly difficult patches with her struggles with glioblastoma.
Similarly, her support network also includes her Mother Geraldine Cibellis, her Aunt Virginia McCormack, her nephews Shea and Brett, Nolan and Coen, her son-in-law Adam, her daughter Emily and of course, her husband Dr. Mark Martin.
Holding Mark’s, Tamara’s, and Emily’s hands through the last few years, has been the ever-present matriarch “Boss,” Anita Martin, who walks in spirit along a sandy strand with Tamara this very day somewhere special and warm and ocean blue. It’s there that she will be meeting up with her father who she loved so dearly too.
Partager l'avis de décèsPARTAGER
v.1.12.0