Martha Bablitch (née Virtue; October 28, 1944 – April 4, 2007) was a judge on the Wisconsin Court of Appeals. Biography Martha Jean Virtue was born on October 28, 1944 in Lawrence, Kansas to John and Maxine (née Boord) Virtue. Martha grew up in Ypsilanti, Michigan where her mother was a lawyer and her father an English professor at Eastern Michigan University. She moved to Wisconsin to attend Lawrence University and later graduated from the University of Wisconsin Law School. Career Bablitch practiced private law with the firm Bablitch & Bablitch in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. In the 1970s she was a board member for the Wisconsin state Council on Criminal Justice. She was elected to the Wisconsin Court of Appeals for district 4 when it was created in 1978 and re-elected in 1982. She retired in 1985. Personal life and death She was married to William A. Bablitch, who was a member of the Wisconsin State Senate and Wisconsin Supreme Court. They divorced in 1978. After her retirement, Bablitch devoted her time to the alcohol recovery community in Madison, focusing on other women and lawyers working towards recovery. In April 1986, Bablitch was interviewed in Milwaukee Magazine where she discussed her struggles with depression and alcoholism. On March 17, 2004 her portrait, along with 14 other Wisconsin Women Jurists, was exhibited at the Wisconsin state house of representatives. She died from lung cancer on April 4, 2007 at her home in Waunakee, Wisconsin. External links Martha Bablitch; Wisconsin Historical Society Archives. Opinions Authored by Bablitch; Court of Appeals of Wisconsin Martha J. Virtue Bablitch; Find A Grave The Search for Normal. Milwaukee Magazine. April 1986. References People from Lawrence, Kansas People from Ypsilanti, Michigan People from Stevens Point, Wisconsin People from Waunakee, Wisconsin Wisconsin Court of Appeals judges Wisconsin lawyers Lawrence University alumni University of Wisconsin Law School alumni 1944 births 2007 deaths Deaths from lung cancer in Wisconsin 20th-century American judges 20th-century American women judges Alcoholics Anonymous 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American women