Martha L. Brofman

1926 – 2022

Martha Brofman died at 95 years old on Thursday, February 24. She was unassuming at about five feet tall, but her effusive warmth filled rooms and made friends of strangers. Maybe you were one of those strangers once: her family was used to losing her at restaurants and events and finding her holding someone’s hands between her own and telling them how blessed they were, or how blessed she was. Martha’s hard-to-place accent (a blend of Polish-Yiddish and Argentine-Spanish, if you can imagine)

hinted at a rich life history, but she would rather tell you about her kids, grandkids, and great grandkids. Today we want to tell you about her.

Martha was born Masza Lina in Lodz, Poland in 1926 to her mother Rivka, father Abram, and older brother Natalio. In 1935, fleeing antisemitic violence, she, her brother, and her mother boarded a ship to join her father in Buenos Aires, Argentina. They began their new lives with the welcome of a small, tight-knit Jewish community. Martha lost her father at age 12 and cared for her dying mother through her teenage years. She and her brother became independent at a young age. In 1947 Martha met Carl Brofman, whom she married in 1949. In 1950 Martha and Carl had a son, Al. In 1953 they welcomed a daughter, Regina. Life became difficult economically in Argentina, and in 1957 Carl left the family for Portland, Oregon to start a new career with relatives who settled there.

In August of 1958 Martha, Al, and Regina joined Carl in Portland and were welcomed by a warm and loving family. On top of adjusting to yet another country, new people, new customs, and raising two young kids, Martha became pregnant. Nine months after arriving in Portland she had a daughter, Stella, born

in 1959. Martha loved her life in Portland and taught herself to speak English by watching television at Carl’s aunt’s home. In 1961, Martha was uprooted once again when Carl moved the family to Fresno, where they had no ties. This time there was no community to help welcome them. Martha had to get two kids started in public school and care for a two-year-old. Here, Martha used her gift of warm conversation with any and every stranger she encountered to build her own small community.

In 1969 Carl and Martha divorced, leaving Martha by herself to raise her two daughters who remained at home. She had never been employed, so she began to work by cleaning neighbors’ houses. A classified ad led her to clean the home of a woman who owned a chain of nursery schools. The woman eventually hired Martha to clean the schools. Martha never learned to drive so she took a variety of buses every day to the various locations. Her days were long but she was able to support her family. After a few years, she gained the confidence to apply for an opening at one of the schools as a cook. She cooked for 100 kids a day for more than 20 years until she retired. Aside from her great work ethic, Martha didn’t shy away from adventure, including following her kids to the EST training and even a David Bowie concert in the mid-70s.

A huge accomplishment for Martha was the house she purchased in 1993. She lived the rest of her life there, always welcoming family, friends, and neighbors with her famous banana bread. (If you knew Martha, you can perfectly hear her saying “banana bread” with a rolled “r”). If you asked her about her life she’d tell you about her kids and their kids: their accomplishments were her accomplishments and she talked about them with everyone she could.

She is survived by her son Al Brofman and his wife Denise, daughter Regina Contreras, and daughter Stella Pilegard and her husband Cris; her grandkids Tamara Mattox, Michoel Brofman, Alexis Brofman, Cole, Ryan, and Celeste Pilegard and their spouses and partners; and eight great-grandkids ages 3 to 20: Kevin, Haydn, Axton, Miriam, Eliezer, Willow, Hazel, and Clay. Martha will be deeply missed by her family, neighbors, and friends