Martha Primerano

Martha (Mereness) Primerano, 82, passed away after a long illness on November 22, 2022. Martha was a native and long-time resident of the Syracuse, New York area. For the past 48 years she was a resident of College Park, Georgia. She first ventured into the business world with her high school club, Future Retailers of America, working as a department store clerk. Later she was a popular waitress at a pancake house. However it was in the market research field that she really came into her own and made a career. She rose up the ranks from survey taker to manager, and over the decades visited dozens of cities across the country in the course of her work. One of her favorite stories to tell was of when, as a teenager, she and her best friend Sally snuck into a Hotel Syracuse freight elevator and begged their way into getting autographs from the piano star Liberace. Thirty years later, she encountered Liberace again, this time as a part-time employee of the Fox Theatre in Atlanta. He remembered her and even had her help onstage with his show. Whether in an office, a theater lobby, or eventually on Facebook, Martha was quick to make friends. If she was your friend, you never had a better one. If you were family, you never had a dearer, sweeter, more generous, more caring person in your corner. If you were her cat or dog (or even someone else’s pet) you got the very best of her. She could also be tough when she had to be. That toughness helped keep her around for so long. She will be missed by those in all three of the above categories. Martha is survived by her devoted husband of 64 years, Chuck Primerano; her son, Charlie (Sharon); her daughters, Melanie Crabtree, and Joy (John Johnston); grandsons, Dane, Ryan, Nathan, Dylan, and Vaughan; granddaughters, McKenzie, Eva, and Gia; eight nephews, and seven nieces; four great-grandchildren; a sister, Marilynn Whaley, and a brother, Stephen Mereness. Martha was pre-deceased by her parents, Alfred Mereness, and Helen (Brown); her sisters, Shirley Pappas, and Laura Humes; and brother Kenneth Mereness.