Martha Seabrook was born in Milton, Florida on May 6, 1920. From birth she had a glandular problem that caused her to become obese. During childhood, she was constantly teased by schoolmates and peers. Her father had abandoned the family when Martha was a toddler and to make her life even worse, she was sexually assaulted by her own brother when she was thirteen years of age.

In spite of everything that was wrong in Martha's life, there was hope. She was intelligent and was eventually accepted into nursing school. She took her studies seriously and finally graduated first in her class in 1942.

Following her graduation, Martha had problems finding meaningful work, a problem she attributed to her obesity. Finally, an undertaker hired her to prepare corpses for funerals. She was quite disappointed in this, but she accepted it as her only offer. She hadn't graduated first in her nursing class just to be an undertaker's assistant.

Martha was a lonely woman who frequently read romance magazines and novels. Her choice in movies was anything in which actor Charles Boyer starred. She adored Charles Boyer.
For eight months she worked for the undertaker. During this time, she became aware of a nursing shortage in California and after careful consideration, quit her job and relocated to California. In a very short time, her education paid off and she was hired by a hospital.

As it appeared life was improving, she began to live out her romantic fantasies with a bus driver she had met. In time, she discovered she was pregnant and began to insist that her boyfriend marry her. The boyfriend disappeared from her life, leaving her pregnant, heartbroken and desperate in an era in which unmarried mothers were considered a social disgrace.

She searched thoroughly for him with no success. She eventually had such mental stress that she was hospitalized for psychiatric treatment. In a short time, she recovered and began to develop a plan. She would return to the Pensacola area.