Obituary of Abner Martin

Abner Martin of Waterloo died, aged 84, at Grand River Hospital on November 23, 2018 after an extended illness.

Born in Waterloo Township on October 7, 1934, he was the seventh surviving child of Annanias and Susanna (Steckle) Martin.  He married Shirley Jantzi of Kitchener on July 9, 1955.  Abner was educated at Rockway Mennonite School, Kitchener, Goshen College, Indiana, and received a BMus from the University of Toronto and MMus from the Eastman School of Music, Rochester, New York. He taught music in Tillsonburg and at Waterloo Collegiate Institute and later at the University of Waterloo; he was Associate Professor at Mount Allison University, New Brunswick. In Waterloo he was founding director of the Menno Singers and Mennonite Mass Choir.  At his retirement the Menno Singers established the Abner Martin Music Scholarship in support of music students. Abner’s second career was as a farmer; he owned prize-winning Charolais and Holstein cattle at Rivendel Farm in Atwood, Ontario.  The farm received the Conservation Award from the Maitland Valley Conservation Authority. Abner was a 2017 inductee to the Waterloo Region Hall of Fame.

Abner is survived by his beloved wife Shirley and four children: Kevin (Lynne McNab), Cori (Hannibal Hamlin), Stephanie, Craig (Susan Murley).  Also survived by grandchildren Shauna (Alasdair Kampff), David (Jen Monteiro), and Patrick as well as sisters Viola Wallace, Ellen Moyer, Laura Shantz, and many nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his parents, sisters Florence Wideman, Almeda, and brother Lloyd; brothers-in-law Carson Moyer, and Milo Shantz, George Wallace, and Aaron Wideman; sister-in-law Gladys Martin; and son-in-law Bruce Kirkpatrick Hill (Stephanie).

The funeral service will be on Saturday, December 1 at 3 pm at Waterloo North Mennonite Church, 100 Benjamin Road.  Interment at a later date.  Visitation will take place at Erb & Good Family Funeral Home, 171 King St. S., Waterloo on Friday, November 30 from 2 to 4 pm and 7 to 9 pm.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Abner Martin Music Scholarship (at mennosingers.com) or the Mennonite Central Committee (at donate.mcccanada.ca).  Memorial donations may also be arranged by contacting the funeral home at www.erbgood.com or 519-745-8445.

Time held me green and dying,

Though I sang in my chains like the sea.