Martha K. “Marti” Salwisz passed away peacefully surrounded by her family on July 16, 2026 from Alzheimer’s disease. Marti was born on May 4, 1951 to Frank and Martha L. Salwisz, the fourth of five children. Marti attended Libbey High School and studied education at The Ohio State University for one year on a full scholarship before she became a full-time wife and mother. Marti and her first husband had five children, and after their divorce she went back to college and obtained her Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing from the University of Toledo. While she was attending UT, Marti married Kent Jeffery and they had a son (Kent also had two children). Marti was an OB/Labor & Delivery nurse at St. Charles and Mercy Hospitals, and she taught nursing at Mercy College. She then worked at the Mercy Health Clinic in the OB/GYN Department. It was while she was working at the clinic that she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, which she fought for years and was ultimately victorious. Because of her cancer, Marti retired from nursing and she and Kent (who was also retired) then embarked on what they saw as their true calling: foster parenting. Marti and Kent were foster “grandparents” to over thirty children, most of whom were medically fragile newborns. Marti and Kent felt that parenting their own children, grandchildren, and foster children was their greatest achievement in life.

Marti was preceded in death by her husband, Kent Jeffrey. She is survived by her children, Mellisa (Doug Johnson) Smith , Peter (Jeannine) Jeffrey, Mishelle (Doug Keller) Smith, Melinda Smith, Melissa (Donald) VanderHorst, Theodore (Shannon Mahoney) Smith, Alexander (Amber) Salwisz, and Samuel (Brianna)Jeffrey; her grandchildren, Melanie Smith, Gabriel Johnson, Peter Jeffrey, Anne Jeffrey, Alexis Salwisz, Max VanderHorst, Aspen Salwisz, Leo VanderHorst, Annabelle Salwisz, Owen Jeffrey, Adeline Salwisz, April Salwisz, and Benjamin Jeffrey.

A Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday, August 8, 2026, at 12:00 pm at Hope United Methodist Church, 4069 W. Sylvania Ave., Toledo, OH 43623. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Hope Church.