GLUCK-MARTIN FAMILY CEMETERY

Hidalgo Co. Cemeteries of Tx

Submitted by Frances Isbell

With Permission  of Hidalgo Co. Historical Commission (2005)

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LOCATION: From intersection of La Blanca Road ( FM 493) and Monte Cristo Road (FM 1925), turn west 2.5 miles, then north on Sharp Road one mile to green gate on right with sign Martin Refuge. This is a private family cemetery with no public access. .

SURVEYED: Audrey Martin on Oct. 31, 2005.

HISTORY: Gluck-Martin Cemetery was established in 1993 by John and Audrey Gluck Martin, on the death of Audrey’s mother, Florence H. Gluck. In May 2001, John’s mother Ruth A. Martin, was buried there. Georgia Gluck Mason, Audrey’s sister, was buried in December 2003.

The setting is native habitat and vegetation. In a unique concept, individual burial locations are not marked. A central granite monument, erected in November 2001, commemorates those buried there and the memory of their husbands. GPS coordinates detail locations. Also on the site are the combined ashes of friends A. Clayton Scribner (1907-2001) and his wife Lynette L. Scribner (1907-1992), ardent conservationists and wildflower photographers.

The cemetery occupies approximately ½ acre of land out of the North 30 acres of Lot 4, Block 93, Mo-Tex Land and Irrigation Subdivision and is just south of the residence of John and Audrey Martin.[In 1912, the Missouri-Texas Land & Irrigation Company owned 60,000 acres in the area. They sold to developers W. A. Harding and Lamar Gill who developed Hargill.]

John and Audrey Martin bought the land in 1980 and built their home there in 1982. It was laser-levelled farmland and for the next few years produced grain and corn crops. In about 1984, the Martins committed to reclaim the land as native habitat. The forty acres are now covered with mesquite, huisache, and ebony trees, cactus and other native plants. Martin Refuge is home to all manner of native birds, mammals and reptiles.

In 1987, John and Audrey Martin, the Scribners and Dr. Steve Bentsen founded the Valley Land Fund, a local, non-profit organization of volunteers working to preserve the natural habitat of the Lower Rio Grande Valley and to protect its wildlife. A biennial wildlife photography contest, brainchild of President John Martin, launched in 1994, is one of their numerous projects.