Inetta P. Martindill

Inetta Pfeister Martindill, age 106, passed away peacefully on Tuesday, September 26, 2017 at Porter Hills Retirement Center in Grand Rapids.  She was born on April 13, 1911 in Ohio, but considered Grand Rapids her home.  She met her husband, Bill Martindill, as she was standing in the registration line at Ohio University in 1929.   She earned a teaching degree and proceeded to teach primary school in a one room schoolhouse in Ohio after she was married in 1933.   She adopted two children, Cheryl Martindill Rennix and Roger Martindill, when they lived in Indiana.  They moved to Grand Rapids in 1957, when her husband purchased the Michigan Lithographing Company.  She lived in East Grand Rapids with her family until Bill retired and the first phase of the Porter Hills Garden apartments was completed in 1982. 

She ceased teaching to focus on raising her children- but she kept busy!  She was an amazing painter, singer and could make just about anything with a needle and thread.   She had an exceptional green thumb and her gardens were beautiful.  She took great pride in her baking and kept the cookie jars filled.   She loved knitting hats for all of the newborns leaving the local hospitals, ran the PX when she moved into Porter Hills and she was the librarian there for years.  Within the last three years, she finally gave in to using a walker and wheelchair.  She had a lot of gratitude for the ability to walk.   She was arranging flowers until two years ago.  It was only within this last couple of months that she chose to eat in her room and not join her gaggle of girls in the dining room.  Inetta was a very strong soul.  She lived a full and joyful life.  And, while we will miss her and those beautiful blue eyes, we know she is beaming as she joins her best friend, Bill.  Inetta is survived by five grandchildren and nine great grandchildren. 

The family will be hosting a Celebration of Life at the Meeting House at Porter Hills at 2pm on Tuesday, October 17, 2017.  For those who wish, memorial contributions can be made to the Gerber Foundation Neonatal Center. 

 Service Information