Martha Snowdon North
June 9, 1931 to January 10, 2018
Martha Snowdon North, called Marty by her family and friends, died at Marin General Hospital on January 10, 2018 with her husband and family around her, after a fall in her home.
Marty was beautiful, gentle, friendly, loyal, considerate, generous and thoughtful. She was gracious and had a great sense of humor. However, words cannot do her justice. She was simply a wonderful, amazing person.
Marty and Mike lived in Belvedere, CA with their little dog Muffin. Marty met Mike when she was married to Douglas Kinney, a classmate and friend of Mike’s at Harvard Business School and Marty asked Mike to be the godfather of her first child and oldest son, Tad. They saw each other occasionally over the years, then reconnected on December 23, 2004, over dinner at Tad’s house. Mike knew instantly that he wanted to be with Marty for the rest of his life. They were married on September 4, 2005. They both felt their years together were the happiest years of their lives.
In addition to her husband, Marty is survived by her six children and fifteen grandchildren. She was always there for their births, weddings, birthday parties, school events and sports. She is also survived by Mike’s four children and seven grandchildren. Marty had the inspired idea of the two families getting together at Stinson Beach in the summer and the two families bonded as a result.
Marty was born in Pittsburgh, PA on June 9, 1931, to Felix Snowdon and Martha Guthrie. After her parents divorced, Marty was raised by her father and Aunt Lida. They lived in a great old mansion at 5030 Fifth Avenue in the center of town. For a number of years, Marty went to Florida in the winter, driving there with Aunt Lida, her grandma, Lizzie Mae, her beloved nanny, and Frank the chauffeur. During these trips she saw how badly African Americans were treated. It was the beginning of a concern for social justice that lasted her entire life.
She attended the Ellis School in Pittsburgh through the 9th grade, then went on to Chatham Hall in Virginia, class of ‘49, where she was president of the student council and excelled in sports. She then went to Vassar College, but demonstrated her sense of adventure by transferring to Stanford for her junior year. Despite her love for California, she returned to Vassar for her senior year, graduating in 1953.
After graduation, she returned to California briefly then came back to Pittsburgh to be with her ailing father. She married Doug Kinney in February 1954 and moved to Boston. After his graduation from Harvard Business School in 1956, they moved to Flint, Michigan for two years, then to Lake Forest, Doug’s hometown. They had five children all born within five and a half years. Doug and Marty divorced and she married William Rentschler with whom she had one child.
Soon after the birth of her sixth child, Marty became a nurse’s aide at Lake Forest Hospital. To become a registered nurse, she brought her youngest child, born in 1973, with her while she went to nursing school in Evanston, IL.
While working as a nurse, she went back to school to get her Master’s degree in Social Work at Northwestern University. Marty helped found and became the Director of Hospice at Lake Forest Hospital for ten years. She would go out in the middle of night to unfamiliar places to help grieving families. It took incredible dedication and love.
She somehow found time to head two of the largest non-profit organizations in the Chicago area: Chicago Commons and Infant Welfare.
After her divorce from William Rentschler in 1991, Marty continued to live in Lake Forest until she moved to California in 1997 to be with more of her children. She joined the Belvedere Tennis Club, was captain of one of the tennis teams and loved her tennis group. She joined St. Stephen’s Church where she was on the altar guild, a eucharistic minister and was elected to the vestry. One of her proudest experiences was going to Honduras with a church team to help people with AIDS.
She was living in Shelter Bay in Mill Valley when a miracle happened. She met Mike again in December, 2004 and their years of happiness together began.
Marty’s five children from her marriage to Doug Kinney are Ansel (Tad) Kinney who lives in San Francisco, Douglas Kinney, Jr., Lake Forest IL, Elisabeth Robinson, Portsmouth, NH, Martha Perry, San Francisco and Hilary Kinney, San Anselmo, CA. Her daughter Hope Garbo from her marriage to William Rentschler lives in Ross, CA. Mike’s four children are Amanda, Cecil, John and Alex.
Marty was a warm person with a great smile. She had the wonderful ability to connect with anyone and everyone. She did her best to make the world a better place and to stand up to social, racial and any other injustice. She lived her golden years to the fullest with her treasured husband Mike and their beloved dog Muffin.
Martha Snowdon North’s Memorial Service will be at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Belvedere on Friday, February 2 at 4:00 PM.