Martha M. Alston, a retired teacher's aide who enjoyed cooking Southern-style dishes for family and friends, died in her sleep Sunday at FutureCare Irvington. The West Baltimore resident was 91.
Martha Marcella Patterson was born and raised in Baltimore. She was a 1935 graduate of Frederick Douglass High School.
During World War II, Mrs. Alston worked as an inspector at Edgewood Arsenal.
She was married in 1945 to Marvin N. Alston Sr., a Western Electric Co. machinist, who died in 1982.
The couple raised their family in a North Rosedale Street home, and after her children were grown, she went to work as a Baltimore public school teacher's aide.
She worked at several schools including Gwynns Falls Elementary School, from which she retired in 1985.
"Her No. 1 hobby was her family," said her son, Marvin N. Alston Jr. of Columbus, Ga. "She was also a good cook and could burn some chicken. She made boiled shrimp with plenty of Old Bay, great crab cakes and pig's feet."
Services for Mrs. Alston were held Friday at the Vaughn C. Green Funeral Home.
Also surviving are two daughters, Jean Gibson-El of Baltimore and Marlene Middleton of Las Vegas; two sisters, Catherine R. Creigler and Clarice E. Bass, both of Baltimore; eight grandchildren; and 14 great-grandchildren.
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