Grace Montenero Martina

Grace Martina (b. 1901 - d. 1989) was a “Renaissance Woman” and prominent figure in the establishment of the Italian community in Grandview Heights and beyond. 

Grace was the oldest daughter of Joseph (ne' Guiseppe , b. 1878 – d. 1965) and Catarina (b. 1884 – d. 1976) Montenero. This duplex on Glenn Avenue was built by Grace’s father Joseph and his brother Jim in 1903 for their families, one year after Joseph immigrated to the United States. Grace and her husband Anthony Angelo (Angel) Martina lived on adjacent Westwood Avenue from 1935 to 1950 with their six children. 

Grace was active in her church and community where she organized pasta dinner fundraisers. She and her committee prepared 7,000 meatballs and 200 gallons of tomato sauce for one fundraiser at Bishop Watterson High School. The Governor of Ohio selected Grace to go to a national folk festival in Washington DC to demonstrate Italian cooking in the 1970s. 

During the 1930s she started a Citizen School for Italians who could not travel to downtown Columbus for citizenship classes. There were 47 members of her first class that was held in a storeroom where the Red Door Tavern is located today on Fifth Avenue. Grace was a frequent interpreter for her older Italian neighbors. With the mayor of Columbus, she helped organize a visit to Columbus by the Italian Ambassador to the United States on Columbus Day in 1947. She was involved in local politics and assisted in several campaigns. Her significant contributions to Italian heritage in central Ohio were recognized in 1980 when she was named Woman of the Year by the American-Italian Club. 

Note: This stop is a private residences. Please respect the owners’ privacy and observe residence from public access points only.

Grace at age 14. 

Grace (seated right) married Angel Martina (standing right) in 1919 in a double wedding with her sister Angelina and Joe Romas.  

Grace loved acting and is pictured here in her costume for the play, “The Blind Girl of Sorrento”. She would fill in occasionally for an Italian speaking part for the Romance Language Department at The Ohio State University. 

Grace and Angel in 1919 at their wedding reception held at the family Glenn Avenue home.   

The Montenero family duplex on Glenn Avenue in 2014. Grace owned the duplex in her later years from 1970 to 1986.