Martha Joan Maslana
July 7, 1935-April 28, 2025
Pleasanton, California

Martha Joan Maslana passed away Monday April 28 after a short and churlish scuffle with cancer. Blessed with the Irish gift of the gab, she told a great story and always got a laugh.

Marty (“Mart” to her inner circle) was born in Syracuse, New York, the eldest of four daughters, to Mildred and Joseph Mathews. She spent her childhood having her hair braided so tight she lost all feeling in her forehead by the age of 10. She collected Storybook Dolls until a sister who shall remain unnamed (Cathleen) broke them all. She then spent the rest of her young adulthood tricking that sister into believing she had wings.

After graduating with honors from Nottingham High in 1953, she did the most 1950's thing ever and attended secretary school. One of her first jobs was with an advertising agency, Spitz Advertising, where she’d while the hours away inventing two new imaginary partners, Hawk and Druhl, hoping for the opportunity to answer the phone, “Hawk, Spitz, and Druhl. How may I direct your call?”

In 1957, she drove across the country with her friend, Sue, landing in San Diego (by way of Vegas, of course) and promptly asked, “What’s a tay-co?” Apparently, Mexican cuisine had been a novelty in upstate New York.

She soon began working at a local television station, KFMB Channel 8, where she would later fondly recall the local weatherman, Regis Philbin, hanging about her desk and regaling her with his ambitious career plans.

She also met her future husband, Richard Maslana, in San Diego. They wed in 1960 in her hometown of Syracuse and settled in the nearby village of Liverpool on North Woodland Drive where they purchased their first, and Marty’s favorite, house. It was soon filled with three sons, Michael (1961), David (1962), and Danny (1965). Marty would later recall, “I woke up every morning and wished I had a chair and a whip like a lion tamer as I opened their bedroom door.”

Marty met some of her best friends on North Woodland Drive during her early years as a stay at home mom and was relieved that none of her sons ever managed to burn down the neighborhood, although one who shall remain unnamed (Danny) did try.

In 1973, the family relocated to Pleasanton, CA, shortly after the birth of their 4th child, Mary, the long desired girl who didn’t like dolls and hated wearing dresses, but was well loved, nonetheless. A few years later in 1980, Marty, Dick, Danny, and Mary lived briefly in Drogheda, Ireland where Dick had taken a job. There they made many new friends and, at the constant pleading of Mary, made many visits to see the town relic: the head of the Irish martyr, Oliver Plunkett. After returning to Pleasanton, Marty and Dick divorced in 1990, and Marty attended Las Positas Community College, earning her AA degree and, soon after, her paralegal certificate.

She worked as a paralegal for 9 years in Livermore at the Law Office of Patricia Lee Culley before retiring. She then came out of retirement to spend a few illustrious years at the upstairs Hallmark store in the Stoneridge Mall where she developed a strong aversion to Beanie Babies and those who collected them.

Her final post retirement gig was with Dublin Insurance where she once again made many friends and thoroughly enjoyed their yearly Christmas party and thoroughly hated the wild turkeys who lurked by the front door.

Marty’s post, post retirement life was filled with spending time with friends and family, traveling, reading, chatting, and hating Trump. She looked forward every Friday to coffee with the girls, loved attending Victorian tea every Christmas with her daughter and grandchildren, and couldn’t get over the salmon at Bridges restaurant with her son and daughter-in-law. She was over the moon to attend her eldest grandson’s wedding and never stopped talking about her trip back to Ireland with her sister, Cathleen.

Mart was a great friend, an awesome mom, a loving Nana, and one hell of a funny gal. She will be insanely missed by us all.

She is survived by her sons Michael (Kimberley), David (Ina), and Daniel (Collette), her daughter Mary (Christopher), her grandchildren Justin (Kelsey), Jacob, Owen, and Anna, her sister, Cathleen Donegan, and a multitude of cousins, nieces, and nephews who all loved Auntie M.