Martha Ann Stark spent the last twenty years of her career as the Director of Bands at Gainesville High School in Gainesville, Florida. She was in the middle of her 20th year at GHS when she died of ovarian cancer on December 18, 1995. She attended the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill for one year on a flute performance scholarship before tranferring to the University of Florida where she earned first a Bachlor of Music Eduation degree, and then some years later, the Master of Music Education degree. Martha began her teaching career at Horace O'Bryant Junior High School in Key West, Florida. During her tenure at Horace O'Bryant, she developed one of the finest programs of its kind in Florida. While at Gainesville High School, Martha developed the band program into one of the best comprehensive band programs in the state of Florida. She was equally adept in all areas of music education from the concert stage, to jazz band and marching band. The awards and honors her ensemble received were numerous. Martha received many personal awards, the most recent being the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Florida School of Music. She held many professional memberships, including WBDI, and was active as a clincian and mentor in Florida for many years. In December 2001 Martha received postumously the BandWorld Legion of Honor Award, and in November 2002, she was inducted into the Florida Bandmasters Hall of Fame. She is one of two women in the Hall of Fame.
A very unpretentious person, Martha was an inspirational teacher and role model to all of her students. Countless musicians from her program have entered all areas of the music profession, and today many of them are in the teaching field. Her hobbies included Florida Gator sports (especially football), and she loved dogs, fishing, the beach, and most of all, her students and friends.
The Martha Ann Stark Memorial Scholarship is funded jointly by WBDI Past-President Linda Moorhouse and WBDI Honorary Member Frank Wickes. Both were very close friends of Martha, and Linda Moorhouse was not only a high school students of Martha's, but the first from her GHS program to enter the band field.