Claudette Elaine Martin, 86, passed away Sunday night, Nov. 3 in Bloomington. She was born in Indianapolis on Jul. 1, 1933, to Ralph M. and G. Mildred (McNeff) Clark. While working for the Indiana State Police, she met John Robert “Bob” Martin, and they were married in her parents’ Maywood home on Mar. 7, 1954. Bob joined the U.S. Army and Claudette became the consummate officer’s wife. With the frequent moves of military life, she helped to create loving homes in numerous houses in Kentucky, Hawaii, Oklahoma, Texas, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. They had two children, Karen Elaine Martin (Michael Vanderpool) and John David Martin (Jen Yates Martin). After Bob retired from the Army, they moved to Bloomington in 1977.
Claudette was a gracious hostess to extended family and to many college students who found a home away from home with her. She met many of those young people while working at Sears, and they became lifelong friends. Claudette was an avid reader and a remarkable cook. She also had a dry and precise sense of humor which she shared with her family to the very end. She was a member of the First United Methodist Church of Bloomington.
Claudette is survived by her son and daughter, her brother Jerry Lyman Clark, her nieces and nephews Sheri Lahr Renas, Greg Lahr, Elaine Clark and Jason Clark, her grandchildren Danielle Elaine Settlemyer LePore (Tony), Tim Settlemyer, Eileen Settlemyer and Nate Martin, and one great-grandchild Leah LePore. She was preceded in death by her husband, Bob, and by a nephew, Martin Lahr.
There will be a private family memorial. If you wish to honor Claudette, please consider a donation in her name to the Wounded Warrior Project, woundedwarriorproject.org.