Service for Martha Grigg Saturday, March 1

Martha Livdahl Grigg, spousal member and wife of member William Grigg died in her sleep at home in Chevy Chase Saturday, Feb. 22. Service will be at St. Columba's Church, 4201 Albemarle St. N.W., D.C. at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, March 1.

A prize-winning writer and editor, Martha had been in and out of hospital and rehab since Christmas for fluid buildup related to a uterine cancer diagnosed seven years ago. Never happier than when giving a party, for 25 years she organized a "Phantom Dinner" which people subscribed to knowing there would be no real event. The "dinners" raised about a million dollars for the House of Mercy, a Washington charity established in 1882 to help unwed mothers but which by the 1970's, as needs changed, supported the Rosemount model preschool program for inner city kids. In 1991, when the "Phantom of the Opera" came to town, Martha sold out a night's performance for the charity and organized a real dinner preceding the show. She was the director of GEICO's employee communications -- editing a prize-winning magazine and many pamphlets. She wrote "Breast Cancer and You;" a Gothic mystery, "The Bethnal Inheritance;" articles for the The Washington Post and The Washington Star; and a best-selling government publication on the safety of breast implants. She was president of the International Association of Business Communicators, D.C. Metro and the House of Mercy.