Clifford P. and Erma Martin Music Scholarship

Clifford and Erma Schertz Martin were the kind of college graduates alumni directors dream about. Through all their adult years, they contributed their resources–personal and financial–to Goshen College. Even though they lived in Elkhart, they attended church at College Mennonite to maintain their college connections. And when it came time for their two children, Janette and Bob, to go to college, “there was no question of where we would go,” Janette says.

Both Clifford and Erma came from Mennonite backgrounds. Clifford was born in Scottdale, Pennsylvania, and later moved with his family to Greencastle, Pennsylvania. His parents were Abram D. and Ada Loucks Martin, and his father was a Mennonite minister. After his father died of influenza when Clifford was six, his mother and Aunt Martha Martin moved to Goshen. He attended Hesston College for two years then finished at Goshen College 1927.

In college he majored in math and physical science. The 1927 Maple Leaf describes him as a “man of pleasing manner, a gentleman, a thorough student, a leader of unusual abilities.” He demonstrated his leadership skills as president of the Adelphian Literary Society, editor of the ‘27 Maple Leaf and president of the senior class.

Erma Fern Schertz grew up on a farm near Metamora, Illinois. She came to Goshen College in 1924 but did not graduate until 1932. She took several years off to teach school and attend Illinois Normal University. When the depression hit, she taught in a one-room schoolhouse near Metamora for $50 a month, before her marriage.

While at GC, she was president of the Avon Literary Society and involved in French and ski clubs, basketball and on the Record staff. The 1932 Maple Leaf suggests the range of her interests: “Although she is not a ‘Home Ec.’ student, Erma has a wealth of ideas for dainty menus and successful parties. Jolly good fun is a prominent ingredient of her character, but she has time for work. She is a conscientious student, and her success as a teacher is established. Music, and especially piano, is her hobby.”

After graduating from Goshen, Clifford started working for the First State Insurance agency and then it’s parent, First Old State Bank, Elkhart, IN. Eventually he rose to the position of president and continued in that capacity until First Old State merged with St. Joseph Valley Bank, January 1, 1967. He retired at the end of 1967 and became a realtor, remaining active until 1984.

Clifford and Erma were extremely active in community affairs in the Elkhart-Goshen area all their lives. Clifford was president of the Northern Indiana Economic Development Association and a founder and longtime director and treasurer of Greencroft Retirement Center. He contributed his skills to Goshen College as a member of the building committee for Union Auditorium and a member of the Mennonite Board of Education.

He also helped the college by the many student loans he helped arrange through his bank. He always tried to base his business judgements on the customer’s need and his confidence in them–a fact that helped many GC students get loans for college and many graduates to obtain home mortgages or business loans.

Erma chaired the Kulp Hall restoration committee and was treasurer of the Fine Arts Club in Elkhart and treasurer of the Elkhart Symphony board. She used her education background to teach piano and to tutor in the each-one-teach-one literacy program.

Clifford died in 1984 and Erma was killed in an automobile accident in 1989, when this fund was established by their wills.