Beloved Arizona Teacher Laid To Rest In Viral M&M Casket At Funeral
By Dani Medina
March 3, 2023
A beloved Arizona teacher wanted to make sure her "fun-loving" energy was felt long after her passing.
Mary Stocks Martin, of Snowflake, Arizona, passed away last month but her memory will live on in the form of a one-of-a-kind casket that her family didn't even know existed until it was time to plan a funeral.
The M&M obsession started when her students gave her the nickname of "M&M" after realizing her middle initial, S, looked like an ampersand in cursive, her granddaughter-in-law Julia Martin tells iHeartRadio. "Over the course of her teaching career she started to receive M&M memorabilia from her students, co-workers, family and friends," she said. "Over 30 years of collecting!"
The M&M casket, which has since gone viral on TikTok, represents a blue peanut M&M with its eyes closed that's covered in smaller M&Ms that feature the names of Mary's children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great great-grandchildren. Mary designed and help build the casket with her youngest son, Julia added.
"She had her funeral planned and written out for years so as her family we made sure to execute it exactly the way she wanted it. She put in her memoirs that her only regret was that she didn't get to see our faces when we saw the casket," Julia said.
Her last wish came true as millions and millions of people have seen videos online of the unique casket.
See the TikTok for yourself below:
@juliamartin68 Billy's Grandma was laid to rest on Saturday. The service was beautiful and exactly the way she wanted it. One of her final wishes was to have her Grandson Billy and Great Grandson Billy ( Bear ) play the song I'll be home for Christmas as this song holds memories very near and dear to her heart. Her Casket was built by her and her son years ago and yes, it is an M&M! All the little M&Ms have the names of her Children, Grandchildren, Great Grandchildren, and Great Great Grandchildren on them. Long story short, when she married and became Mary Martin her initials were M and M and that started the beginning of her receiving M&M memorabilia throughout her teaching career and even after she retired. She touched the lives of so many people, including myself and will truly be missed. We love you and will miss you dearly Grandma Tubba. 💙 *She encouraged us to take pictures and videos of her services and share them*
♬ I Think I Like When It Rains - WILLIS