- Date Of Birth: December 17, 1927
- Date Of Death: April 6, 2015
- State: Illinois
Martha Maguire Roest, 87, of Galesburg, died at 5:49 a.m. on Monday, April 6, 2015 in the company of family and friends at Hawthorne Inn. She was born on December 17, 1927 in Pittsburg, PA to Michael T. and Eva Belliveau Maguire. Martha was raised in Baltimore, Maryland. Martha graduated from Mount St. Agnes High School and completed nurses training at Mercy Hospital where she received her RN. At the age of 50 she earned her long coveted bachelor’s degree.
Martha is survived by her children, James (Cindy) E. Hicks, III of Chesterfield, Michigan, Robert M. Hicks of Columbus, Ohio, Judith Valerio of Dayton, Ohio, Harry (Lynn) Hicks of Columbus, Ohio, Mariangela (Laura Behling) of Galesburg, Illinois, her brother David (Terese) Maguire of Newark, Delaware, eleven grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her son Paul A. Hicks, her parents, her sister Margaret Corbett and her brothers Robert, Terence, James, and William. In her career, Martha worked as a surgical and emergency room nurse at Georgetown University Hospital and Mt. Carmel and Grant Hospitals in Columbus, Ohio. Later, she cared for juvenile delinquents at the Ohio Youth Commission and at the Rosemont School, operated by the Sisters of Good Shepherd.
After a move to California she found her true calling in the service of the developmentally disabled at Sonoma State Hospital and at community placement homes in Vallejo, California and Carbondale, Illinois. Martha lived in St. Peter, Minnesota after her retirement where she was an enthusiastic and much appreciated volunteer at the Treaty Site History Center, where she gave tours and managed the gift shop and South Elementary School where she worked with children in the special education classroom. She spent less than two years in Galesburg but in that time made countless friends among the staff at Hawthorne Inn. She joined the Galesburg NAACP and was a generous contributor to Knox Prairie Community Kitchen.
