Delores J. Martin; beloved family matriarch, tireless community organizer, esteemed lawyer/urban planner, and a devoted, decades-long member of Springfield’s Baha’i community, passed peacefully from this world on March 22, 2026, in Cary, North Carolina, surrounded by her loving family.
A Celebration of Life will be held at 6 p.m. Saturday, June 20, at Sacred Heart Convent of the Dominican Sisters of Springfield — a group near and dear to Delores’ heart — 1237 W. Monroe in Springfield.
For more than four decades, Delores lived and worked in Springfield. She was the former head of The Springfield Federation, chief of the Illinois Attorney General’s Senior Citizens Division, and director and deputy clerk of the Illinois Court of Claims.
During her illustrious legal career, she was admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States in Washington, D.C. She shared this extraordinary honor with her daughter, a milestone she often described as one of the highlights in her life.
Her community organization skills helped pave the way for numerous programs — several bearing fruit to this day — aimed at building racial unity through constructive conversations, providing job and housing opportunities for the underserved, and building bridges between the Springfield Police Department and the citizens they serve.
She helped bring Mix It Up at Lunch to Springfield School District 186, and secured screenings of the movie Racial Taboo at the Springfield convention center and to every officer in the Springfield Police Department.
When the Springfield Dominican Sisters started an ambitious program to eliminate racism, Delores was one of the first people they tapped as a vital and decades-long collaborator.
For 12 consecutive years, Delores played a major role in the Springfield Baha’i Community’s annual Rally For Race Unity, held the State Capitol rotunda — often in conjunction with a children’s art and poetry competition that saw young people of diverse backgrounds saluted for their art depicting the awesome power of racial unity.
She leaves behind a lasting legacy through her children: Stacey Hagens; TeAndra Miller (Curtis); and Louis Martin (Mikki); grandchildren, Michael Washington (Ky); Anastasia Jones (Roy); Tenéa Albright (Connor); Jasmine Miller-Kleinhenz (Nabil); Bianca Hagens-Washington; Gabrielle Washington (Dexter Gilmore); Chloe Hagens-Washington; Alexa Hagens-Washington (Frank Lagmay); Asia Martin; and Amir Martin; and her great-grandchildren: Roy, Romell, Ryan, Royce, Royal, Rylee, Leah, Legend, Badi, Zayn, TeAnna, and James Curtis “JC.”
She is also survived by her brother, Anthony Murphy, aunts, Anola Byers and Bonnie Pearl Dedrick; sister of the heart, Marie Leddell; and a host of loving nieces, nephews, and cousins.
Delores will be remembered not only for what she accomplished, but for who she was: a woman of faith, wisdom, resilience and profound love.
