Educator and community activist Lois Martin was born on September 23, 1928 in Boca Raton, Florida. Originally from Georgia, her family relocated to Boca Raton several years before Lois was born. She is the youngest of seven children. After graduating in 1946 from Carver High School in Delray Beach, Florida, Martin went on to earn an associate's degree from Florida Normal College and a bachelor's degree from Florida A&M College in 1950 before beginning to pursue graduate studies at Boston College.

Martin returned to her native Boca Raton and taught math for nearly forty years at Carver High School, Booker T. Washington High School and Carver Middle School. But her influence was not limited to the classroom.

She has always been an active member of her community. For several years, she acted as the Secretary to the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board and later served as the Vice-Chairman for the Housing Authority. Since retiring from teaching in 1988, Martin has participated in a number of organizations: she has been a contributor to Habitat for Humanity since 1991; has sat on Boca Raton's Historic Preservation Board; has held the offices of Vice-Chairman of the Pearl City Blue Ribbon Committee and Treasurer for the Martin Luther King Memorial Committee; and has committed herself as a Sunday School teacher and Treasurer for the Ebenezer Baptist Church. The Lois Martin Community Center serves the underprivileged communities of Boca Raton with a variety of services for children and teens, including tutoring and after school programs.

Though Lois Martin is the mother of just one son, she has touched the lives of countless children.