Beloved Acushnet Teacher Who Died At 44 Still Making a Difference

A foundation has been launched in memory of beloved Ford Middle School math teacher Shane Martin.  His widow, Angela, son, daughter, and a group of friends and colleagues wanted to keep his memory alive.

Martin, a New Bedford native raised in Acushnet, died in April 2021 at home in Dartmouth after an illness. He was 44.

The Shane Eric Martin Foundation is in the process of securing its 501c3 status, however, the group has already coordinated a very successful fundraising event. The fundraiser took place in November at Friends Academy, where Angela is a teacher.

The initial mission of the foundation is to offer a number of scholarships to students with links to places Martin has taught. Remarkably, the foundation was able to raise enough to award four scholarships at $2,500 each.

"My son, my daughter and I want to do our best to make Shane proud.  We need to finish this race and work hard to do our best.  Our faith has definitely had an impact in helping us.  It's hard, very hard, but the love and the support has made a huge difference.  Being able to do something like this where you continue to hear people say Shane's name and talk about him, it makes a difference for us."  --Angela Martin

The first scholarship will go to a student who is a part of the Christian Fellowship Center in New Bedford, where both Martin and his wife were Sunday school teachers.

Martin was also a sixth-grade math teacher at Ford. The other three scholarships will be given to students who spent at least three years at Ford and then went on to attend New Bedford, Fairhaven or Old Colony Regional Vocational Technical high schools.    One graduating senior from each of the three schools will be awarded a $2,500 scholarship.

Students interested in applying for the scholarship can find out more information here.