For over thirty-five years Kathryn Martin has been flown across the United States and Canada to serve as an inspirational speaker as herself and sometimes in company with her “other” self, Miz Maudie, humorist.
Kathryn was a college professor in allied health when, to her surprise, she was discovered as a speaker and invitations began to roll in.
Author, author!
Photo: Times Medical Columnist Dr. Randolph Howes and Ponchatoula author Kathryn Martin are pictured at the Fourth Annual Writer’s Conference in Hammond. Bothauthor newspaper columns and have books to their credit.
Then after a practical joke masquerading as a little ole lady with clean humor, her Miz Maudie was also discovered and the “duo” was encouraged by professionals including Mrs. Henry Cannon (Minnie Pearl of the Grand Ole Opry) to enter a full-time career of inspirational speaking.
“Kathryn, you and Miz Maudie are getting the same kind of response Minnie and I get,” Mrs. Cannon said. “The people can tell we really love them and that’s why they respond the way they do.”
Her words struck home when she said, “This old world is starving to death for love and you need to be out there.”
Realizing her degrees and life experiences were pointing in this direction, in another year Kathryn completed her work at the college, making sure the program she’d coordinated was fully accredited – then resigned.
She opted to go where needed instead of hiring an agent to find the best-paying engagements and has brought humor with doubling-over laughter along with a message. She has loved her people all along the way, often spending hours getting acquainted individually plus keeping up personal correspondence with them as well.
All the while Kathryn has been a writer with articles appearing in numerous magazines. Her book, Believe It or Not—Mama Likes the Nursing Home! opened the door to being key-note speaker to state and national long term health care conventions.
After Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit her Southeast Louisiana, Kathryn evacuated her damaged home temporarily to be near a working airport in Memphis to keep her fall engagements. Still – in over thirty-five years of full-time and a few before of part-time, she has never missed or even been late for an engagement anywhere.
After four hurricanes and completing more parent care, she has devoted her time to more writing and less traveling – taking only occasional speaking engagements in the same fields as before as well as in writers conferences.
Recently she completed a Christian Fiction novel she and her “second mom” and co-writer, co-speaker, Jacklyn Welch Shockley, had been working on for some twenty years.
(See the updated newsletter section for more details on Long Way from Lonely.)