Anna Lou Adams Martin

1922-2014

Anna Lou Adams Martin was born in Britt, Iowa on June 12, 1922 to her parents, Robert Martin and Laura (Thompson) Martin on their family farm.  She attended school in Britt, graduating high school in 1939, and Britt Junior College in 1941 and following that, the American Institute of Business in Des Moines, Iowa.

Anna Lou attended Drake University and supported herself by working at Peanut Products in Des Moines, IA; graduating in August 1945, with a Bachelor of Arts in Education.  For the next 7 years, she taught at Jefferson High School and Webster City High School, also in Iowa.

In 1952, she had the opportunity to combine her interest in people, culture and a love of traveling by moving to Japan and teaching at the American School at Grant High School in Japan.  While there, Anna Lou traveled extensively around the entire country.  In 1954, she took another adventure and moved to Germany to teach high school in Wurzburg and Nuremburg.  Anna Lou traveled to many countries in Europe during that time.  In 1957, she moved back to Iowa to attend the University of Iowa and obtain her Masters Degree in Counseling.  In September, 1958, Anna Lou accepted a position as School Counselor at the Bellevue School District, which brought her to the Seattle area.  In the years that followed, she worked in Highline and Tyee High Schools and Chinook Junior High School.  Eventually, Anna Lou moved to Redmond.

Anna Lou nurtured her interest in religion when she joined Ambassador’s University Presbyterian Church and the Bible Study Fellowship in Bothell.  She later became a Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) Leader in Bellevue.  She loved classical music.

Though she never married or had children of her own, she enjoyed her relationship with her many nieces and nephews as well as former students all over the world.