LJWorld.com

Photo by Richard Gwin

Mary Martinez visits with a woman at the Lawrence Senior Center, 745 Vt. The Lawrence resident ran several successful Mexican restaurants in Manhattan before retiring in 1999.

Lawrence resident Mary Martinez’s lifelong spirit of adventure and spontaneity started early. She was born at 4:15 a.m. in the back seat of a yellow cab as it hurtled toward a Manhattan hospital in 1939.

“The driver said he was going 60 miles per hour when I arrived,” Martinez says.

Her father, Sabino, came from Mexico to work on the railroad. He’d purchased a used railroad car located on the railroad’s right-of-way for $25 as part of the railroad’s special program to “help” its Mexican workers. Martinez, her parents and two brothers lived in the boxcar until she was 13.

“It had cold running water and an outhouse for toilet facilities,” Martinez recalls. “We lived there until it was washed away in the 1951 flood, and we moved into a house.”

In spite of the cramped conditions, Martinez says she was happy, fairly self-sufficient and entertained herself as she waited for her parents’ return from work.

“I didn’t really know anything else,” Martinez explains. “We kept to ourselves most of the time and thought every family lived like ours.”

Her mother told her children if they worked hard they’d be successful, but due to the family’s limited financial resources, Martinez didn’t attend college. She graduated from high school in 1955, moved to Cleveland, married in 1956, then moved to Wichita where her husband, Myron, was employed at Boeing. When he transferred to the company’s Vertol plant in Pennsylvania, Martinez often entertained his colleagues at their home.

“I’d spend most of the week preparing crispy flour tacos, and people raved about them,” Martinez says. “One evening someone said we should open a restaurant, and I thought, ‘Why not?’ We didn’t have any restaurant experience or hospitality education, but after some discussion, Myron and I decided to do it.”

Undaunted by their inexperience, they returned to Manhattan and opened Raoul’s Taco Real restaurant (named after her deceased brother) in 1964. They served mostly American-style food but added Mexican combination plates to the lunch menu. These Mexican dishes became so popular they eventually dropped the American fare, and their restaurant became the first in Manhattan to serve authentic Mexican nachos, chili con queso and fiesta salads.

In 1981, Martinez opened a second restaurant, Escondido (which means “hidden”), where her five children worked during their high school and college days. When the businesses encountered some challenges during a difficult divorce, the determined Martinez sought help from the Kansas State University Small Business Development Center. Under her management and control, the businesses quickly rebounded. She paid off debts and won several business awards, including a Kansas Department of Commerce and Housing outstanding women-owned business award.

In 1999, Martinez decided to close the restaurants and fulfill her travel dreams. She’s been to Russia, Europe, Africa, mission trips to Mexico and driven all over the United States.

“My mother and other older women often said, ‘I wish I’d done this or that,’ and I didn’t want to end up like that,” she says. “When it’s time for my rocking chair, I’ll have my memories and no regrets.”