Clara Martinez

Clara, known to her family and friends as Cawa, passed away peacefully at home on Friday, December 10, 2021. Clara was born in Albuquerque, NM on March 24, 1926, and was a lifetime resident of Martineztown (downtown area), Albuquerque, NM. Clara spent about 90 of her nearly 96 years dedicated to the neighborhood grocery store. Manuel's Food Market was founded in 1924. Manuel's Food Market is currently the oldest continually-family-operated grocery store in Albuquerque.

Clara was a matriarch for the Martineztown community. She enabled the men in her family to be involved in significant accomplishments in the history of Albuquerque. Clara was dedicated to her family and enabled them to carry on their dreams and successes. She chose to spend her life in this vocation to honor and love her family. Her unselfish devotion to Manuel's Food Market led to successes of the men in her family. Her father, Manuel Sanchez, was heavily involved in local politics and Richard Martinez, her husband, was an inspirational civic leader.
She was very active in the PTA at Longfellow Elementary School when her sons attended in the 1950's. She enjoyed watching MMA and talking on the phone for hours with her sister. She looked forward to her Sunday routines of closing the store early, having lunch out at local restaurants, then shopping at SAMs Club for stocking the store.

Clara operated the store for nearly 90 years, serving the community and feeding the neighborhood. Students of Longfellow Elementary School were frequent customers purchasing candy and sodas after school. Neighborhood residents and visitors frequented the store for a quick tamale and soda for lunch.

Clara attended Longfellow Elementary, Lincoln Junior High (where she met the love of her life and future husband) and graduated from Albuquerque High School in 1944. Later in life, she became an avid reader while sitting behind the counter at the store awaiting customers.

Clara married her junior high sweetheart, Richard Martinez. They were wed in the summer of 1945, while Richard was on leave from serving in WWII in the Navy. Soon after, they welcomed their two sons, Ricky and Danny, in 1946 and 1947. During the Korean war, Richard was called back to service, and the family moved to Oahu, Hawaii for about a year. Afterward, they returned to Albuquerque and the grocery store business. Clara lived out her life in service to her family and community.
Clara was preceded in death by her husband, Richard S. Martinez; her son, Richard L. Martinez and his wife, Gloria and second wife, Elizabeth; sister, Gloria Sena and her husband, Ralph; brother, Dr. Robert Sanchez and his wife, Ellie; and parents, Manuel and Felicita Sanchez.

She is survived by son, Danny Martinez and his wife, Renee, grandchildren, Stephen Martinez (wife Ibeth), Andres Martinez (wife Riann), Rebecca Lopez (husband Joseph), Meghan Martinez (husband Colbran), and Ryan Martinez (wife Jen); great-grandchildren, Dante, Dementrio, Damian, Delilah, Alexander, Jonah, Sophia, Manuel, Lori, Nina, Ricardo, Nathan, and Arnel; many nieces, nephews, cousins; and lots of other family and friends.

A Memorial Service will be held Friday, January 7, 2022, 10:00 a.m., at UNM Alumni Chapel on the UNM Campus. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Roadrunner Foodbank in Clara's name at RRFB.org. For parking information for the service please follow this link https://www.google.com/maps/place/Parking+lot,+Albuquerque,+NM+87106/@35.0849304,-106.6265151,17z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x87220b5eeb632833:0xd4ff077c2b4eb525!8m2!3d35.0864654!4d-106.6248934