Martha Schmidt
Martha Schmidt, 58 WESTMINSTER Martha "Marty" Schmidt, of Grand Rapides, Mich., an ardent advocate for citizens' rights for access to the media, died June 25, 2008, awaiting surgery at the University of Michigan Hospital.She had recently been living in Westminster, restoring a pre-Revolutionary farm while helping to found a community radio station, teaching and working on government policy for green issues. She was the former director of Ann Arbor Community Access Television and taught in the Film/Video Program at the University of Michigan. Martha was a member of the first board of the Michigan Theater and an advocate for historic preservation. Martha was a member of the Board of Directors of the National Federation of Local Cable Programmers. She was the first woman to receive the Roxie Cole Leadership Award for the Alliance for Community Media and worked for legislative change in this field in Washington. Martha and her husband for 39 years, Widdicombe S. Schmidt, lived in Grand Rapids, Ann Arbor, Westminster, and San Francisco. When Martha and Widdicombe moved to San Francisco, she became executive director of San Francisco Community Television and later worked for the Mayor's office. Cable franchise issues, system architecture, and access provisions were all in her purview. Martha's active and creative life will be celebrated by friends in the places where she and Widd resided.
Published in the Brattleboro Reformer on 6/28/2008.