Annette Lucille Martin

Annette Lucille Martin, daughter of Clark Fuller Martin and Belva Walbridge Swift, was one of the handful of great-grandchildren of Nathaniel Martin and Hannah Strader who were still alive when this website was first uploaded in 2005. Her biography was left empty due to privacy concerns. Now that she is deceased, her biography is being completed. What you see below is a work-in-progress.

Annette was the very youngest of her generation of the Martin-Strader clan. She was almost the last to pass away. As of this writing, the only survivors of that generation are her sisters Bea and Helen.

Annette was born 31 March 1938 in Colfax, Whitman County, WA. When she was very small, her father changed jobs and a new family home was established in Ritzville, Adams County, WA, where Annette spent the remainder of her childhood. On 8 October 1955, she wed John Lawrence “Larry” Schwartz, son of John Lawrence Schwartz and Harriet Emaline Scott. She was only seventeen-and-a-half at the time. Larry was seven years her senior. The age difference mirrored the example of her parents and both sets of grandparents. Unfortunately, while her parents and grandparents all enjoyed lifelong marriages, hers to Larry was quite brief. Larry, born 25 February 1931 in Lamona, Lincoln County, WA, lived out his life in Washington, passing away 3 November 1981 in Spokane, Spokane County, WA.

Once out of high school, and not having started a family, Annette attended two years in the nursing program at Spokane Community College. Just as she wrapped up that, she became a wife again. Her new husband was Darrell Howton, Jr. This time she did not follow the pattern and opted for a mate who was close to her own age -- slightly younger, in fact. (Birthdate and origin omitted because he is still alive.) He was stationed at Larson Air Force Base in Grant County, WA, which is where the wedding was held 4 June 1958. Over the course of the next three years, the couple became parents of two daughters. However, the girls were still quite young when the marriage ended, and in fact they would come of age bearing their stepfather’s surname.

Leaving behind the Larson AFB/Moses Lake area, Annette reestablished herself in Spokane. She would continue to reside either in the city or its fringes for three more decades. Despite the demands of motherhood, she tended to have a wage-earning job from her twenties to her sixties. The occupations included being a nurse and caregiver. (She is shown in her nurse uniform in the image at the upper left of this biography. This is how she looked in 1969.) However, she did other things as well. She was even employed for a time as a welder for Apollo Boat. Her pastimes included rock hunting, astronomy, and hiking, along with beadwork and other handcrafts.

Annette’s third husband was Gene Byron Schur, son of Byron Edward Schur and Grace Lenore Rogers. Born 20 December 1935 in Spokane, Gene was another Air Force guy. Stationed in Germany during the end of the 1950s, he met Hildegard Schmidt, whom he married 2 December 1960 in Saarbrücken. The couple moved to the United States in 1962. Hildegard became a naturalized U.S. citizen in short order. The union resulted in the birth of two daughters, one born in Germany and the other in the United States, but divorce followed in 1969. Gene returned to the Spokane area where he became involved with Annette. They had a lot in common, including their two pairs of daughters of almost the same ages, so they combined forces to form a family. They were wed 9 October 1971 in Spokane. (Their vows were renewed in 1973, 1977, and 1980.) Together they had two more children, a son and a daughter, bringing their combined brood to six.

In the long run, Annette and Gene did not stay together. After the divorce, Gene would marry one more time (in 2001). He died in Spokane 23 November 2009 of complications resulting from the H1N1 virus.

In the early 1990s, Annette became involved with Clyde “Andy” Andrew. They did not formally marry, but were together until her death twenty years later, which means he was her significant other a lot longer than Larry Schwartz or Darrell Howton. Together Annette and Andy moved in the mid-1990s to Riverton, Fremont County, WY. She worked at Pro Tec and later as a caregiver. She also volunteered at Amedisys Hospice and Habitat for Humanity. She died 11 April 2013 at Riverton Memorial Hospital. Andy survived her.

Descendants of Annette Lucille Martin

To go back one generation, click here. To return to the Martin/Strader Family main page, click here.