Martha Marie Pryor

If there’s one thing you could always be sure of with Martha is that what she enjoyed most was having a full house.

As the family grew from six children to 11 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren, so did the small house that she shared with her husband Bill, and seemingly the capacity of Martha’s heart to love.

Martha Marie Walker was born on November 9, 1925, in Mt. Erie, Illinois to Melvin and Edna Walker. She was the 2nd of five children: Doris Alice (1924), Martha Marie, Warren Edgar (1935), (Lorren) Russel (1939), Delmar Lee (1931). The oil lamp that they did their homework to later sat next to the kitchen table she shared with her family.

When she was still a teenager she moved in with a girlfriend who, little did she know, would soon become her sister-in-law.

She met her husband Billy E. Pryor through his sister Marjorie before he went to the war. They married after WWII ended on March 24, 1946 - 68 years ago this week.

Shortly thereafter, Bill and Martha moved to Pontiac, Michigan when Bill got a job at Baldwin Rubber. Eventually they owned and operated Star Cleaners in Pontiac in the 1950’s until it burned in a fire.

By that time their house was already filling up as it would for the next few decades. With the exception of a couple, Bill and Martha were on track to have a child nearly every three years. Donnie was born in 1947, Rita in 1950, Karen in 1953, Cathy in 1954, Duane in 1958, and David in 1961.

After they moved into the house on Oakmont, the kids were in good company with more than 60 others on the block. Martha took it all in stride whether it was nursing bebe gun wounds on Karen or giving hugs after Rita’s childhood neighborhood wedding. Her boys remember that she was pretty, but her tongue could get sharp when her kids got a little too snippy.