Abner Martin

There are two sides to Abner Martin – choral musician and cattleman.

As a child, Martin was involved in music and, while a teenager, began directing the choirs at St. Jacobs Mennonite Church.

Martin graduated in 1958 with a Bachelor of Music degree in music education from the University of Toronto. He then taught music at Waterloo Collegiate and later at Mount Allison University in New Brunswick. In 1967, Martin earned the Master of Music degree in music literature and vocal performance from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York.

In 1955, at 20 years of age, Martin became the founding conductor of the newly created Menno Singers. Working with the choir, he pushed the boundaries of choral music with performances of complex pieces. In 1974, Martin was the force behind the formation of the Mennonite Mass Choir which, along with the Menno Singers, he directed until his retirement in 1979. Today, the Menno Singers and the Mennonite Mass Choir continue to play significant spiritual and cultural roles in Waterloo Region.

Following his retirement as choir director, the Menno Singers established the Abner Martin Music Scholarship awarded annually to a deserving university music student from Ontario.

Growing up on a dairy farm in Waterloo Township, Martin was active in 4-H. In 1966, he began breeding Charolais beef cattle, believed to be the first purebred Charolais herd in Waterloo Region.

In 1973, Martin left his career at Mount Allison University and bought a farm and dairy herd in Perth County. Animals from Martin’s Rivendel herd of Holstein cattle were sold to at least six provinces and ten countries around the world. The farm was considered a demonstration farm for conservation management practices. In 1993, the farm received the Conservation Award from the Maitland Valley Conservation Authority.

Photograph courtesy of Hunsberger Photography.