Martha Kieswetter passed away on April 24, 2005, at the age of 97. She was a resident of the Ingleside of Rock Creek, a retirement community located in Washington, D.C., where she had resided for the last two years.

A memorial service was co-ministered by the Reverend Ann Davies, pastor of the Ingleside Chapel and the Reverend Ken Fuller, minister of the Cleveland Park Congregational Church, where Martha had attended and volunteered since she moved to Washington in 1982.

Martha was born on November 9, 1907, to Max and Maria Neubert. She grew up with her two older sisters and an older brother in Astoria, Queens, where her father worked at the Steinway piano plant. After high school, she attended Jamaica Teachers Training School and taught in the New York City school system for several years. She married Herb Kieswetter, of Flushing, in 1934 and three years later they moved to Manhasset. Their daughter, Ann, was born in 1937 and their son, Chico, was born in 1938. Martha and Herb became active members of the Congregational Church of Manhasset in the 1940s. When Herb retired from Uniroyal Corp. (previously U.S. Rubber Company) in the 1960s, he worked for the church as their business manager for several years, until his death in 1976. Martha had previously returned to teaching after the kids went off to college and taught at the Greenvale School not too far from Manhasset, along with a close friend and neighbor, Phoebe Kollmer. While teaching third grade at Greenvale, Martha earned the nickname, "Homework." After Herb died, Martha moved to an apartment in Port Washington and lived there for several years.

In 1982, she moved to the Chesterfield, a cooperative apartment building on Wisconsin Avenue in Washington, D.C., and joined the Cleveland Park Congregational Church, becoming active as a member and volunteer. She also volunteered at the Washington Cathedral, the White House mail-processing center, and became an ombudsman for nursing home patients in the District of Columbia.

Martha's first love was gardening and her second was volunteering and helping others. She spent as much time as possible during her golden years working on her kid's gardens - taking the local bus from the District to Bethesda to work on Ann's and getting herself up to Morristown, NJ, to help Chico keep his in shape.

During her last two years, at the Ingleside, she volunteered extensively, at the gift shop and passing out hymnals at chapel services, and was a member of the "transportation crew," people who took responsibility for pushing others who needed wheelchairs to get around, to various functions. She enjoyed getting this exercise, even as the second oldest resident of the Ingleside.

She lived long enough to be predeceased by not only her husband, Herb, but also by Ann's husband, Cecilio, and her grandson, Kevin. Besides Ann and Chico, she is survived by her grandchildren John Kieswetter, Malena Morales and Chris Morales.