Martha Alexander Brewer

Martha Alexander Brewer died on Monday, Sept. 7, 2020 in Farmington, CT. She was 96.
She was born Martha Helen Alexander in Trenton on June 26, 1924. Her childhood was deeply shaped by what she saw of the Depression and her parents’ commitment to community philanthropy. At the age of 71, after a lifetime of advocacy for women’s reproductive rights, she founded the first Animal Assisted Therapy program in Winchester, VA.
She attended Trenton High School and Ward Belmont College in Nashville, TN before graduating with a degree in journalism from the University of Missouri. She was married on Jan. 12, 1947 in Trenton to Chester Leland Brewer Jr.
From 1966 to 1975 she was a reporter with the Richardson Daily News. In 1975 she began a 15-year stint working for Planned Parenthood of Dallas and then for Life Planning/Health Services. She also began volunteering for an Animal Assisted Therapy program in Dallas. After her husband’s death, she devoted herself to the AAT program. She was famous for her rigor and for her commitment to establishing clear standards for the program and its animals. It was through this rigor that she was able to expand the Winchester AAT program from its initial work with physical rehab patients to working with psychiatric patients, which it continues to do today.
She is survived by her three children, Anne Brewer, Molly Brewer and Chester Brewer III; many grandchildren and great-grandchildren; and her beloved niece, Barbara Babb. She had a rare ability throughout her life to make friends wherever she went and to inspire them with some part of her passion for social justice and human rights. She will be deeply missed.
The family suggests memorials to the Fidelco Guide Dog Foundation, Inc.