Martha Nett Marino, born on Feb. 21, 1928, a longtime resident of Laguna Beach, passed away peacefully with her family by her side on Dec. 11, 2019 at the age of 91. She was an outgoing woman who was always looking forward to her next adventure. She is survived by her two sons, Claudio and Kelvin, their spouses, Clare and Debbie respectively, and her four grandchildren, Ashley, Brody, Nico and Tyler.
After graduating from UC Berkeley, she began an epic traveling adventure in Japan as an activities director in the Social Services. Over the next 10 years, she spent time in Europe, Asia and Africa visiting over 18 countries. Martha then spent 20 years teaching foreign languages while raising her two sons. She took up skateboarding and surfing while continuing her traveling in the summers.
While both sons attended college, she continued her travels when she joined the Peace Corps and was sent to Thailand. Her next stop was China, where she taught English for several years, and then ventured off to explore other Eastern European countries.
After her sons graduated college, Martha came back to Laguna and started to plan her next thrilling adventure. She packed up her bike with camping gear and into a bike box it went and shipped to Europe, where she spent the next seven summers biking along the canals of France, the dikes of Netherlands and through the Chianti region of Italy. Her trips and adventures brought her to all continents except Antarctica; five diplomas from European Universities, and being fluent in at least four languages—what a journey.
She eventually self-published several books about her adventures and enjoyed retelling her stories with everyone she met.
She will be dearly missed by her family, friends and anyone who had the pleasure of meeting her.
