Martha Eastland

Martha Leila Martin Eastland, a teacher in the Highland Park schools for many years and the mother of three children, died February 23 in Dallas, at the age of 90, from cancer. Mrs. Eastland was born in Hillsboro on January 10, 1917. The third of three daughters born to William Harrison Martin and Annie Leila Elliott Martin, she was the wife of Herman Eastland III, also of Hillsboro, who died in 1998. Mrs. Eastland attended the Hillsboro public schools and graduated from Hillsboro Junior College in 1936 and then from Texas State College for Women in 1938, with a degree in home economics. She married Herman Eastland III in 1941. The couple moved to Dallas in 1946 and retired to Hillsboro in 1994. Mrs. Eastland taught home economics at Highland Park High School in the late 1940s and at Highland Park Middle School until her retirement from teaching in 1985. She received a master?s degree in home economics from Texas State College for Women in 1970. Like her husband, Mrs. Eastland had a talent for gardening and an affection for antiques and old houses. She was known for her fine cooking and gracious hosting, and for her recall of people and events. An avid reader, she especially loved books on Texas and American history. Mrs. Eastland was descended from Scots-Irish settlers of North America. She was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, and of the Public Affairs Luncheon Club in Dallas. In Hillsboro, she was a member of the Hill County Republican Women?s Club and Monday Review Club. Recently she served in the Texas Silver Haired Legislature. She was a member of Grace Bible Church in Dallas. Mrs. Eastland is survived by her two sons, William Martin Eastland of Arlington, and Terry Herman Eastland of McLean, Va., her daughter, Leila Jane Eastland of Itasca, and her granddaughter, Katherine Lindsey Eastland of McLean, Va.