Isobel Martin

Isobel Catherine Martin, (July 24, 1877 - December 3, 1961, as Isobel Jensen) was the first First Lady of Georgeland, the wife of Victor Martin, Georgeland's first President. Born in Usk, West Mainland, Martin was the youngest of eleven children in a strict Roman Catholic family. Educated at home, she married a young property developer, Victor Martin, in 1904. During her husband's Presidency, Isobel Martin was a leading socialite and fashion icon, being described in Harper's magazine in 1930 as "the epitome of modern style". Her attractive, stylish persona was a significant asset to her husband's political career, though she always claimed to loathe politics and never spoke publicly on political issues. Despite this, she was known to have exerted significant influence over her husband during his Presidency. In 1941, she encouraged him to run for a fourth term, despite his advancing years, but he declined and both Martins retired from public life. Upon Victor Martin's death in 1947, Isobel continued to have a national presence and was considered almost as beloved as her husband had been. She briefly re-emerged into the spotlight in 1958 when she firmly advocated Georgeland finally join the United Nations, claiming her husband had always supported the UN and was dismayed when Georgeland did not join in 1945. Isobel Martin died of a cardiac arrest in her home in Topstad, where she had lived since retiring from Martin Hall, on December 3, 1961. Like her husband fourteen years earlier, she was granted a state funeral. This set the tradition of all former Presidential spouses recieving a state funeral as their spouse would. Isobel bore her husband three children. The Martin family are still active in Georgeland business circles. A strict Catholic, Isobel was contraversial in not converting to the Anglican Church upon her marriage, extremely unusual at the time. Victor Martin, however, was not particularly religious and is said to have held no objection. All three of their children were raised Catholic and the Martins attended different churches throughout their marriage.