Changes

Jump to navigation Jump to search
5,405 bytes added ,  23:49, September 16, 2019
Created page with "{{Infobox person |name=Virginia Morse "Ginny" Martinez​ | birth_date=1922​ | birth_place=Milford, Worcester County, Massachusetts,USA​ | death_place=New Orleans,..."
{{Infobox person
|name=Virginia Morse "Ginny" Martinez​
| birth_date=1922​
| birth_place=Milford, Worcester County, [[Massachusetts]],USA​
| death_place=[[New Orleans]], [[Louisiana]]​
| death_date =June 25, 1992 (aged 69)​
| alma_mater=Hunter College​
| occupation=[[Republican Party|Republican]] party official​
| spouse =Reginald Vincent Martinez, Jr. (married 1946-1992, her death)​
| children=Charles Martinez<br/>Richard Martinez<br/>Reginald V. Martinez, III​
| religion=[[Roman Catholic]]​
}}​
'''Virginia Morse Martinez''', usually known as '''Ginny Martinez''' (1922 - June 25, 1992), was a long-term [[Republican Party]] official who is credited with having landed her party's 1988 [[Republican National Convention|1988]] national convention in her adopted home city of [[New Orleans, Louisiana|New Orleans]], [[Louisiana]].<ref name = obit>http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/la/orleans/obits/1/m-07.txt</ref> Delegates nominated the [[George Herbert Walker Bush|Bush]]-[[J. Danforth Quayle|Quayle]] ticket. Martinez had been a notable supporter of Bush.<ref>{{cite news |title=New Old Bush Supporters |author= |url=http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/73568691.html?dids=73568691:73568691&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Feb+14%2C+1988&author=Maralee+Schwartz%3B+Charles+R.+Babcock%3B+Thomas+B.+Edsall&pub=The+Washington+Post+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&desc=New+Old+Bush+Supporters&pqatl=google |newspaper=Washington Times |date=February 14, 1988 |accessdate=}}</ref>​
​
Martinez was the [[Louisiana Republican Party|Louisiana Republican National Committeewoman]] from 1977 until her death in 1992.<ref name=obit/> As a member of the RNC Executive Committee in [[Washington, D.C.]], she fought for the [[Louisiana Superdome]] as the 1988 convention site. Martinez was a member of both the convention Host Committee, which produced the 80-page program, and the Calendar Committee.<ref name=obit/> The delegates were greeted by then [[Democratic Party|Democratic]] [[Governor]] [[Buddy Roemer]], who three years later in the spring of 1991 switched to Republican affiliation, only to lose his reelection race.​
​
==Life and career==​
​
Martinez was born in Milford in Worcester County in southern [[Massachusetts]]. She graduated from St. Mary's Academy there and then Hunter College]in [[New York City]]. During [[World War II]], she was a [[lieutenant]] in the [[United States Navy]] WAVES. In 1946, after her marriage to Reginald V. Martinez, Jr. (1922–2006),<ref name=ssdi>[http://ssdi.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi Social Security Death Index Interactive Search<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> she relocated to New Orleans, where her family resided until 1977, when the Martinezes moved to the nearby [[suburb]] of Kenner in Jefferson Parish.<ref name=obit/>​
​
Martinez became active in the Republican Party during the 1971-1972 gubernatorial election, when she, along with state party chairman [[Charles deGravelles]] of [[Lafayette]] and his wife, [[Virginia deGravelles]], organized on behalf of Republican nominee [[David C. Treen]], then of Metairie in Jefferson Parish. Treen, only the second Republican since [[Reconstruction]] to make a serious bid for governor, was defeated in that election cycle but won the governorship eight years later in 1979. She later worked to elect William Henson Moore, of [[Baton Rouge]] and [[Bob Livingston]] of suburban New Orleans to the [[United States House of Representatives]]. Martinez was the founding president of the Lakefront Republican Women's Club and held membership in similar organizations in New Orleans and Kenner. She was a member of the Capitol Hill Club in Washington and the City Club in New Orleans. In addition, she was a former vice president of the Louisiana Federation of Republican Women, a political support group founded in 1953. She was the treasurer of the [[Republican National Convention]]s which met in 1980 in [[Detroit]], [[Michigan]], and in [[Dallas]], [[Texas]] in 1984.<ref name=obit/>​
​
From 1984 until her death of cancer at the age of sixty-nine in Southern Baptist Hospital of New Orleans, Martinez served as a director of [[St. Jude's Hospital]] in [[Memphis]], [[Tennessee]]. She is interred at the Lake Lawn [[Mausoleum]] in New Orleans.<ref name=obit/>​
​
===Recognition===​
In 1991, the Louisiana Federation of Republican Women established the "Ginny Martinez Scholarship Award" to honor her work in encouraging young women to enter government service.<ref>[http://www.nfrw.org/statefederations/louisiana.htm National Federation of Republican Women<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>​
​
In 1994, Martinez was among the first nine inductees, along with [[Mary Evelyn Parker]] and [[Virginia Shehee]], into the Louisiana Center for Women and Government Hall of Fame at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nicholls.edu/lcwg/hall-of-fame/past-inductees/|title=Louisiana Center for Women and Government – Past Inductees|publisher=Nicholls.edu|accessdate=September 6, 2009}}</ref>​
​
==References==​
{{reflist}}​
​
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martinez, Virginia}}​
[[Category:Louisiana People]]​
[[Category:Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Women]]
[[Category:Politicians]]​
[[Category:Republicans]]​
[[Category:World War II]]​
[[Category:United States Navy]]​
[[Category:Catholic Politicians]]
Block, Upload, Automoderated users, edit, move, protect, rollback
57,799

edits

Navigation menu