Martha (Marti) Biros of Edgartown died peacefully on Oct. 27 at the Mill Hill Residence in West Yarmouth after a 20-year battle with Alzheimer’s disease. She was 93.

Marti was born to Antoni and Karolina Szwaja on Sept. 12, 1931 in Wallington, N.J. She was the youngest of five siblings and grew up during the Great Depression. After graduating from Wallington High School, she became an executive secretary at Curtis Wright and later Western Union.

She met Richard (Dick) Biros in 1954 and they married in February, 1957 after Dick returned from military service in Germany. Marti and Dick first lived in Clifton, N.J. and then Waldwick, N.J. where they raised their two children, Rick and Beth.

In the early 1970’s the family built a small cabin in the Catskill Mountains and spent summers there. Marti was an avid baker and loved picking blackberries and making jam. She enjoyed painting still life’s and knitting along with other crafts.

Hard working and ambitious, she was the driving force in the family. She had Dick apply for a Fulbright Teacher Exchange that brought the family to live in England for a year. On the weekends, the family visited many parts of England, and on holidays traveled to several European countries.

Marti joked that she always wanted to visit the Island that was named after her. She and Dick made their first visit to Martha’s Vineyard in February 1981 for their wedding anniversary and instantly fell in love with the Island. They bought a lot in Smith Hollow Farms and built their house the next year.

Marti and Dick enjoyed retirement on Martha’s Vineyard, traveling to Europe and later spending winters in Fort Myers, Fla.

She loved her grandchildren and treasured being with them. She had many friends and was very social. She was known to start up conversations with tourists coming off the ferry and give them suggestions on where to go on the island.

Marti truly loved Martha’s Vineyard.

Even as Alzheimer’s progressed, she found peace and enjoyment in having Dick drive them around the Island to some of her favorite sights. They enjoyed going to The Anchors/Edgartown Council on Aging and Martha’s Vineyard Center for Living. They were parishioners at St Gabriel Church in Saddle River, N.J. and St. Elizabeth Church in Edgartown.

Marti was predeceased by her husband, Richard (Dick) Biros. She is survived by her son and daughter-in-law, Rick and Beth Biros; her daughter

and son-in-law Beth and Jeff Wyrich; her grandchildren and their spouses, Michael Biros and Jiayi Hong, Marc and Stowe Biros, Andrew Wyrich and Carolyn Quimby, Aaron and Catherine Biros, Michelle and Eric Feick, and Rebecca Biros; as well as Marti’s great grandchildren, Wade Feick, Ezra Hong, Folsom Biros and June Biros.

A small private funeral was held at Tower Hill Cemetery in Edgartown on Oct. 29. A memorial service on Martha’s Vineyard will be planned for a later date.

Donations can be made in her honor to Alzheimer’s Association.