Martha Ellen Ettinger

Martha Ettinger died at home in Palos Verdes Estates, California, on July 6, 2012 at the age of 74, just 47 days after having been diagnosed with lung cancer.

Martha Ellen Arnold was born to Frances Kelly Arnold and Jerome Howard Arnold in Iowa City, Iowa. The family moved to the San Francisco Bay Area and settled in Albany, California, when Martha was 7.

She married her high school sweetheart, Robert C. Ettinger, and had three children. Bob's career in the United States Air Force took the family to bases around the country and to Japan.

Martha was an ingenious wife and mother, an artist in everything she did and a generous volunteer for organizations such as the Girl Scouts and the Flight Test Historical Foundation at Edwards Air force Base. She was fascinated by ancient history and worked on a number of archaeological sites in several states.

She was a person who cherished her individuality, and loved both telling and hearing a good story but valued solitude, enjoying the early morning hours she devoted to working on crossword puzzles and cryptograms.

Martha is survived by Robert Ettinger, husband of 56 years, her sons, Kenneth Ettinger (Diane), and Thomas Ettinger, and daughter, Cynthia Ettinger, as well as her granddaughters, Rachel and Melissa Ettinger, and siblings, James (Barbara), Jonathan (Martha), and JoEllen Arnold, as well as many additional relatives and countless friends.




Funeral Home:
Green Hills Mortuary and Memorial Chapel
27501 S.Western Ave.
Rancho Palos Verdes, CA
US 90275