Carolyn Ann Lexvold Marting, a real estate agent in the Akron area for more than 40 years, was enthusiastic and passionate about everything she did — whether selling homes, volunteering in the community or hiking in the Summit Metro Parks.
Mrs. Marting, 77, died of natural causes Feb. 25 in The Villages, a retirement community in central Florida.
Born in Iowa, she moved to Akron with her family in 1964. She earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Akron and her master’s degree in Speech Pathology and Audiology from Kent State University.
“She worked in the Akron Public Schools in different internship positions and did a lot of private teaching with deaf children,” said her daughter, Suzanne Engum of Texas. “She fell in love with real estate and got her real estate license in 1967. She had an entrepreneurial spirit.”
She started her career with Marting Realty and in 1968 married E. Louis Marting Jr. He died in 1987.
In 1988, she founded her own company, Carolyn Marting Realty Co. in Fairlawn, and opened a branch in Green. She had a staff of 42 agents.
“Her passion was to develop a team atmosphere in the office. She loved every part of real estate. She appreciated the beautiful homes in Akron. She loved architecture,” said daughter Kristine Burdick of Akron, who also went into real estate. “She was very encouraging with her associates and managers and her customer clientele. She taught those coming into the business how to establish and achieve goals and objectives in the real estate world. ”
Another daughter, Kimberly Dunagan of Akron, said her mom enjoyed mentoring.
“Mom was very approachable and always had a smile, an aura, and charm about her. She was a guider and wanted to guide you to success in whatever you wanted to do,” she said. “She certainly did that with the four of us. She also wanted to make sure we were good people and that we gave back to others in the community, because that’s what she did. She was always someone who was willing to volunteer, another huge part of her life.”
Her daughters said their mother taught them to be the best that they could be.
“She wanted us to be very independent and strong and every one of my sisters are that way,” Engum said. “She taught us to be very hard workers and I think we can proudly say our mother provided us with that.”
Throughout the ’80s, Mrs. Marting served on the boards of various community and professional organizations. She was the past president of the Akron Area Board of Realtors, Women’s Council of Realtors and on the board of trustees for the Akron Community Drug Board.
Her daughters said the Metro Parks were also a huge part of their mother’s life.
“When we were growing up we were always in the park, we grew up in the Merriman Woods area so were always on the trails,” Burdick said. “Our mother would plan family events, birthday parties, breakfast and lunch in the park. The [F.A. Seiberling] Nature Realm was really special to her. She loved hiking and was a big supporter of the wonderful trails available in Akron. To this day, my sisters still meet friends to go walk the trails and hike the park.”
After six years as an owner, Mrs. Marting sold her business to Realty One, which in turn was bought out by Howard Hanna in 2008. She retired in 2008 and moved to Florida.
“Carolyn was an amazing lady and always had a smile to share,” posted Kim Madison of Akron on Ohio.com’s legacy.com guest book. “Her energy and her commitment to the real estate profession was an inspiration to so many...Carolyn was all of that and much more.”
“Such a beautiful woman and friendly competitor,” said June Harvey of Tallmadge.
“Carolyn gave my daughter speech therapy at the University of Akron child care center back in 1976. Amy started talking late and Carolyn helped her so well that Amy was ready for kindergarten at age 5,” posted Nancy Price of Santa Barbara, Calif. “This was so comforting to a student mother fretting over her child’s developmental delays.”
Marilyn Miller can be reached at 330-996-3098 or mmiller@thebeaconjournal.com.