On March 25, 2023, Martha Kathryn Burnstein, nee Davidson, died after a lengthy and heroic battle with dementia. Martha leaves behind her best friend and husband of 60 years, Eugene Burnstein; her daughter, Kathryn Burnstein; Kathryn’s husband, Michael Mitchell; her daughter-in-law, Stephanie Kahl Burnstein; her grandchildren, Sam, Oliver, Azalea, Talal, Ali, and Yusef; and her former son-in-law, Amer Hammoud. Martha was predeceased by her beloved son, David Eugene Burnstein, who died on January 28, 2022. The only blessing of Martha’s dementia is that she remembered David as he was in life, young, strong, incredibly intelligent, with a wicked sense of humor.
On December 22, 1935, Martha was born to Dorothy Blue Davidson and Dr. Orval Davidson. Martha had two younger brothers, John and Jimmy. Martha spent a majority of her childhood in Pleasant Ridge, Michigan, though she lived for several years on the Fort Bliss Military Base in El Paso, Texas, where her father was stationed during WWII.
Martha graduated from University of Michigan in 1957. After graduation she lived on a houseboat in Sausalito, California, and hung out at the Purple Onion with the Smothers Brothers and Phyllis Diller. Martha also traveled extensively in the South Pacific, Japan, Mexico, and Spain.
Martha lived in Austin, Texas, with Eugene from 1959 to 1963, and taught at Pease Elementary School. In 1960, Martha married Eugene and they settled in Ann Arbor, Michigan. While working and raising a family, she earned her Masters in Social Work from the University of Michigan in 1977, and pursued her love of travel, spending nine months in Belgium, a year in Aix En Provence, and traveling across England, France, Italy, the former Yugoslavia, Turkey, Greece, the Caribbean, and Scotland, where she was discovered and embraced by the Davidson Clan and spontaneously attended a Davidson Clan family reunion.
Martha will be remembered as an extremely intelligent, quick witted, well read, and beautiful woman. She carried herself with dignity and had impeccable taste and style. Martha was strong willed and had high standards, coupled with a loving and protective tenderness for her husband and children. Martha demonstrated endless patience for her husband’s off-color jokes and taught her children the importance of education, independence, and compassion. Martha read voraciously, was a glorious cook, filling her copy of “The Joy of Cooking” with copious advisory annotations (e.g., “Even our picky-eater, David, loves this.”), and she delighted in her Victorian farmhouse which she spent years remodeling back to its former authentic glory, ultimately being named Crozier Farmhouse circa 1887 by the Ann Arbor Historic Commission.
Eugene and Kathryn wish to express their abundant gratitude to Terrie Fanelli, who has become a beloved family friend, the staff of Merritt House in Ypsilanti, and the staff of Brighton Hospice, for their tender, loving, and thoughtful care of Martha. Martha was loved dearly, she is loved dearly, and will be dearly missed.