Dash Between: Martha Thiele Pierce, 96, philanthropist, showgirl

Martha Pierce and her sister Hilda Thiele

Martha Pierce and her late sister, Hilda Thiele, established a scholarship fund in memory of their late parents many years ago. Over the years, they awarded thousands of dollars in scholarship funds to students at Buckeye High School.

Martha also contributed generously toward the school's Thiele-Pierce Track and Soccer Field House.

When I wrote Martha's Dash Between for the April 4, 2011, edition of the Medina County Gazette, I shared more about her life as a showgirl in the 1930s and '40s.

Martha Thiele and Johnny Weismuller

Martha worked with Johnny Weismuller, a multiple Olympic Gold Medal winner and star of a dozen Tarzan movies.

She met Cecil B. DeMille, the famous movie producer whose credits include The Ten Commandments.

The showgirl also met several Big Band leaders - like Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey - and even mobster Al Capone, whom she described as "a little short guy."

Click here to read all about it.