Sheila Judith Martin (born 1947[1]) is an American Branch Davidian and a survivor of the Waco siege. She was the wife of Douglas Wayne Martin, a Harvard-educated lawyer, who died in the April 19, 1993, fire that destroyed Mount Carmel Center.[2] Four out of her seven children died in the fire: Wayne Joseph, 20; Anita, 18; Sheila Renee, 15; and Lisa Martin, 13.[3][4] In September 1993, she received custody of James Martin (1982–1998[4][5]) who has cerebral palsy and is blind because of a meningitis infection at 4 months old.[4][6] By 1994, she obtained custody in Texas state court of her two other children – Daniel (born c. 1987) and Kimberly (born c. 1989).[3][4]

Martin grew up in Boston, Massachusetts.[7] Her African-American family attended services at an Episcopal Church, but she became interested in Seventh-day Adventism through boarders who rented rooms from her parents. She moved to New York City and met Douglas Wayne Martin. She married him and had seven children with him in total.[1]

In the miniseries Waco (2018), she was played by Darcel Danielle.[8]

Joining the Branch Davidians and the Waco siege

Main articles: Branch Davidians and Waco siege

Reportedly, Sheila Martin first heard of the Branch Davidians under Benjamin Roden in the 1960s.[9] But Martin first began contact with David Koresh, the contemporary leader of the Branch Davidians, in 1982. After James Martin was disabled from a meningitis infection soon after his birth, Martin sought consultation and found it through Koresh via their conversations over the telephone. In 1985, she and Wayne Martin moved to Texas from Durham, North Carolina; they began living in the Mount Carmel Center in 1988.[10] She lived in a bus at the Palestine, Texas camp, where many Branch Davidians lived while a dispute of leadership occurred between Koresh and George Roden over Mount Carmel Center.[1][11]

Martin was in the compound on February 28, 1993, the day the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) attempted to conduct a raid of the Mount Carmel Center and serve search warrants and an arrest warrant on David Koresh.[4]

Martin left the Mount Carmel Center on March 21, 1993, with her three youngest children.[10][12] She was immediately held as a material witness by federal authorities including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in a hotel acting as a halfway house.[10][13][14] Her three children were put into the foster care system until she regained custody of James Martin in September 1993.[10][3] She testified in the trial of eleven Branch Davidians in San Antonio saying that the February 28 shootout was not planned and there was no conspiracy to murder federal agents.[15]

Life after the Waco siege

In 1994, Shelia Martin sent a notice to the ATF that she intended to sue for US$140 million.[3] In 2000, she, among others, was represented in a wrongful death lawsuit of US$675 million by Michael Caddell along with former U.S. attorney general Ramsey Clark, but the jury ruled against the Branch Davidians on July 14, 2000.[16][17][18]

In 1998, Martin assisted in building a museum on the site of the siege to commemorate those who died there.[19][20]

In 2009, Martin wrote a memoir called When They Were Mine: Memoirs of a Branch Davidian Wife and Mother, edited by Catherine Wessinger who has conducted extensive oral histories on Branch Davidians.[21][22]

According to Esquire, as of 2020 Martin lives in the Waco area.[23] Martin, along with survivor Clive Doyle, still believe that David Koresh was the Lamb of God.[7] From at least 2013 until his death in 2022, they met every Saturday for Bible study.[24]

References

  1. ^ a b c Adams, George (November 2010). "When They Were Mine: Memoirs of a Branch Davidian Wife and Mother". Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions. 14 (2): 126–7. doi:10.1525/nr.2010.14.2.126. JSTOR 10.1525/nr.2010.14.2.126 – via JSTOR.
  2. ^ Ericksen, Phillip (April 19, 2018). "Remaining Davidians reflect on deadly fire 25 years ago". Waco Tribune-Herald. Retrieved August 10, 2022.
  3. ^ a b c d England, Mark (February 8, 1994). "Widow plans to sue ATF: Branch Davidian lost husband, four children in April 19 fire". Waco Tribune-Herald. Retrieved August 10, 2022.
  4. ^ a b c d e Verhovek, Sam (July 9, 1995). "NO MARTYRS IN WACO". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 10, 2022.
  5. ^ Fantz, Ashley (April 14, 2011). "18 years after Waco, Davidians believe Koresh was God". www.cnn.com. Retrieved August 8, 2022.
  6. ^ Aron, Jaime (September 29, 1993). "Branch Davidian Woman Takes Son Home". AP NEWS. Retrieved August 10, 2022.
  7. ^ a b Benson, Eric (March 26, 2018). "At Bible Study With David Koresh's Last Followers". Texas Monthly. Retrieved August 10, 2022.
  8. ^ Waco (TV Mini Series 2018) - IMDb, retrieved August 10, 2022
  9. ^ AP (June 22, 2000). "Former Durham resident among plaintiffs in Waco lawsuit". The Associated Press State & Local Wire.
  10. ^ a b c d Pressley, Sue Anne (August 28, 1993). "THE CURIOUS CONTINUE WACO SIEGE". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved August 10, 2022.
  11. ^ Nelson, Alan; Gines, Sandra (January 17, 1988). "Crying in the wilderness: A religious commune sets up a dwelling place in the woods amid a struggle between rival prophets". WacoTrib.com. Retrieved August 10, 2022.
  12. ^ Weikel, Dan (March 22, 1993). "7 Cultists Leave; Hopes Rise for End to Standoff". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 10, 2022.
  13. ^ "Lawyer and Cult Leader Meet for 2d Straight Day". The New York Times. March 31, 1993.
  14. ^ "Accounting for the Waco Branch Davidians". The New York Times. April 22, 1993.
  15. ^ McGraw, Dan (January 17, 1994). "One true believer's trials and tribulations". U.S. News & World Report.
  16. ^ Garcia, Guillermo X. (June 20, 2000). "Jury chosen in Waco raid suit Lawyers in $675M case say federal agents used excessive force in 1993". USA Today.
  17. ^ Ashe, Martha (July 14, 2000). "Davidian trial plaintiffs anticipated jury verdict". Cox News Service.
  18. ^ AP (July 15, 2000). "U.S. feds cleared in Waco deaths". Windsor Star.
  19. ^ Verhovek, Sam Howe (April 19, 1998). "5 Years After Waco Standoff: The Spirit of Koresh Lingers". The New York Times.
  20. ^ AP (April 19, 1998). "Museum commemorates fatalities of Waco". South Bend Tribune.
  21. ^ Martin, Sheila (2009). Wessinger, Catherine (ed.). When They Were Mine: Memoirs of a Branch Davidian Wife and Mother. Waco: Baylor University Press. ISBN 978-1602580008.
  22. ^ Wessinger, Catherine (2005). "Autobiographies of Three Surviving Branch Davidians". Fieldwork in Religion. 1 (2): 165–97. doi:10.1558/firn.v1i2.165.
  23. ^ Bruney, Gabrielle (May 10, 2020). "Here's the True Story of the 'Waco' Siege, and Where Its Survivors Are Now". Esquire. Retrieved August 10, 2022.
  24. ^ Burnett, John (April 20, 2013). "Two Decades Later, Some Branch Davidians Still Believe". NPR.org. Retrieved August 10, 2022.
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