Martha Louise Fosnacht Vidrine

Vidrine—Martha Louise Fosnacht Vidrine, 78, on June 11, 2017, at Panorama Care Center in Lacey, Wash., of cancer. Marty was born on October 15, 1938, in Rochester, Wash., to Agnes Lund and Francis Clinton Fosnacht. She grew up on the family farm, which her grandfather Andrew Lund had homesteaded. She worked in the fields, swam in the Chehalis and Black Rivers, and rode her bike on country lanes, embracing a love of nature that stayed with her all her life. She graduated from Rochester High School and received a bachelor’s degree from Central Washington University and a master’s in art from the University of the Americas in Mexico, with further art training in New York, Los Angeles, and Barcelona. She loved to draw and paint and excelled as an illustrator.

In 1982, Marty and her husband, Marshall R. Vidrine, attended Baton Rouge (La.) Meeting. They felt immediately at home and fully embraced the Quaker way, requesting membership in 1984. She used her art in her long association with the meeting, designing a workshop on mandalas that she presented at quarterly and yearly meetings, creating banners for business meetings, and using tee shirts for silk screening workshops. For twenty years, she and Marshall attended South Central Yearly Meeting, serving on many committees. She volunteered eagerly whenever anyone needed art on a project.

In the mid-eighties, she freelanced for Louisiana State University Agricultural Extension Service, bringing life to presentations with prints and 3D work. Her illustrations appear in several children’s books and in David Matthew Wilcox’s Roosevelt, Muir, Clio and Me. Her portraits gave one the feeling of actually having met the subject.

An explorer and a traveler, she lived in Los Angeles, New York, Ecuador, Mexico, Barcelona, Louisiana, and Washington. She became an enthusiastic badminton player, competing in national and international tournaments and winning the U.S. Senior Women’s Gold medal in 1999. She traveled to Peru, England, Ireland, Australia, and China, often to play badminton. She had many beloved pets, from cats and dogs in Louisiana to parrots and an ocelot in Ecuador. She was an unbeatable Scrabble player, a lifelong reader, an engaging conversationalist, and a writer of illustrated letters.

After Marshall’s death, she continued as a pillar in Baton Rouge Meeting until she moved in 2015 to Lacey, Wash., to live closer to her family. Friends celebrate Marty’s life; her talents; and the happiness being a Quaker had brought her, as her sister told Friends.

Marty is survived by two brothers, Frank Fosnacht and Fred Fosnacht; a sister, Aggie Cross (Al); four cousins, Don Lund, Dale Lund, Dean Lund, and Kristina Phillips; several nieces and nephews; and many friends. Condolences can be shared with her sister, Aggie Cross, 1095 Madrona Avenue, Salem, Ore., 97302.