February 24, 1935 - October 23, 2005
Home Economics teacher from 1984-1996


It's hard to say whether Martha Stolar was the quintessential mom because she was a home economics teacher or if she was a home economics teacher because she was the quintessential mom.

The mom part came before she became a home economics teacher for Cudahy High School, filling her home with savory aromas from the kitchen, creating homemade Christmas ornaments and stitching together clothes for all manner of children and adults.

"She cut up her wedding dress to make my First Communion dress, and she used my dad's wedding suit to make my brother's Communion suit," Stolar's daughter Terry Kivley recalled Monday.

"If I needed a winter coat, she would go into her stash of fabric and make me a winter coat."

Funeral services will be held Wednesday for Stolar, who died Sunday after a nearly three-year battle with ALS. She was 70.

Delicious meals

"In the kitchen, Mom was the best," her daughter said. "She baked bread, made pies. We'd say, Mom, what's for dinner?

"And she would always say, 'Something different.' "

Born Martha Ann Shaffer, on Feb. 24, 1935, in Des Moines, Iowa, she earned a degree in home economics from Iowa State University in 1957.

Around 1959, her husband, Louis, got a sales job in Milwaukee, where the couple moved and raised their family, Kivley said.

Not until the early 1970s did Stolar decide to get her Wisconsin teaching certification, choosing before that to stay at home and tend to her family and to her home, Kivley said.

"She reupholstered the furniture in the house," Stolar's daughter remembered. "She had boxes and boxes of fabric."

Stolar made her daughter-in-law's wedding dress and altered all the bridesmaids' dresses for Kivley's wedding.

"Mom always carried a clipboard. When we went to look at wedding dresses, I tried one on and mom drew a sketch of it," Kivley said. "So instead of buying the wedding dress, we went and bought some patterns and fabric and she made my dress."

Stolar became a substitute teacher for Milwaukee Public Schools while obtaining her teaching certification from Mount Mary College and finally Cardinal Stritch, her daughter said.

Sharing skills with students

She became a full-time teacher at Cudahy High School in 1984 and retired as head of her department, said a colleague, Marcia Halverson.

While at Cudahy, Stolar taught sewing, food preparation and family living, Halverson said.

"She felt that these are life skills that you can use every day," Halverson said. "She was very warmhearted and was a great listener to both her students and her colleagues."

Retirement in 1996 gave Stolar time to pursue two of her favorite joys: taking care of her grandchildren and, of course, sewing.

"She made clothing and toys for all her grandchildren," Kivley said.

"She was the glue of our family," Kivley said. "She was just the best mom."

Along with Kivley, Stolar, who was preceded in death by her husband, Louis, is survived by another daughter, Mary C. Maske, and a son, Michael.

Visitation for Stolar will be from 4 to 7 p.m. today at Schmidt & Bartelt Funeral and Cremation Services, 10121 W. North Ave. Wauwatosa. A funeral service will be held at noon Wednesday at St. Joseph's Congregation-Wauwatosa, 12130 W. Center St.

Login or register to add comments of your own.

Powered by AkoComment Tweaked Special Edition v.1.4