Martha Jane Epler

Martha Jane (Edwards) Epler of Encinitas, CA passed away on Wednesday, July 10th, 2023, at the age of 86. She was born on September 14, 1936, in Hingham, MA and spent her early years living in Cohasset, MA. She had many fond memories of these years visiting her grandparents and living on 3 acres next to a forest. Post WWII her father got a job with the military inventing antennas for Navy ships and the family moved to Washington DC for 3 years. In junior high she moved to Point Loma with her family and later attended Point Loma High School and San Diego State University.

Martha was forever young at heart. Her many friends throughout the years would often comment that she was gifted with a youthful sense of humor, quick mind, and kind heart. As a mother she was always the “cool” creative mother that often joined in the children’s laughter and play. Martha enjoyed many social activities from high school church groups, a college sorority to later in life enjoying her traveling Villa Sisters, garden and book clubs. Martha graduated in 1958 with a teaching credential from SDSU where she met her husband Robert Epler, and they married in 1957. She was a teacher at Hardy Elementary for two years and retired with her first child Janet in 1961. John was born in 1968 and in 1969 the family moved to La Mesa from El Cajon. Martha divorced in 1974 and started her career as a travel agent.

Martha enjoyed being a travel agent until she was 71. Through travel she met many friends and had countless traveling adventures through the US. Mexico and Europe. In her early 60’s she and her friends trained for and then walked the Rock and Roll marathon. She also enjoyed spending time with her two children and two grandchildren. In 2010 she moved to Encinitas where she was very active in her senior community and was a docent at Quail Gardens and a member of several garden, book, and senior groups. She had a great sense of humor and would say that she always woke up happy, grateful, and excited to start the day.

Martha is preceded in death by her parents, Ernest, and Eleanor. Her brother Bill passed three weeks before after she did. She is survived by daughter Janet and son John, Janet's husband Jim and their children Dylan, Ian and Katie and Martha's son from another mother, Ming. Her ashes were spread off Sunset Cliffs intermixed with her brothers in a family ceremony on September 2, 2023.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.tridentsociety.com/location/san-diego-ca for the Epler family.