Troy Moon

tmoon@pnj.com

Molly Martin, the Kentucky-girl-turned-Irish-lass who served as matriarch of McGuire's Irish Pub, died early Saturday. She was 77 years old.

Molly and her husband, McGuire Martin, opened the now-legendary Pensacola pub on Fairfield Drive in 1977. They moved to their current location on Gregory Street in 1982. A second McGuire's Irish Pub opened in Destin in 1996.

Molly Martin was known as an upbeat, welcoming hostess and a talented vocalist. A CD of her recordings, Molly McGuire and Friends, is available at the McGuire's Gift Shop and features her singing Irish classics such as "Fiddler's Green," "Leaving Liverpool" and popular party songs such as "Drunken Sailor" and "Kiss the Moose."

"She was a wonderful person, a wonderful singer, a wonderful wife and a wonderful mother and friend," longtime family friend Jim Reeves said.

"She loved to make others feel good about themselves," said daughter Suzannah McGowan-Baroni, one of Molly's five children and three stepchildren. "She made everyone feel welcome."

McGowan-Baroni said she used to sing with her mother as a child.

"We would always sing together," she said. "I meant to record her songs. She remembered all the words and knew songs no one else did. She always had a song in her heart."

Molly Martin is also responsible for one of McGuire's most enduring traditions. She was the first person to sign her name to a dollar bill and tack it to the wall. Now, there are more than 750,000 dollar bills on the walls of the Pensacola location.

A memorial service will take place at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Gulf Breeze United Methodist Church, 75 Fairpoint Drive in Gulf Breeze, followed by a graveside service at Bayview Memorial Park on Scenic Highway.

It will be the second funeral for the family this month.

Last week, Molly Martin's grandson Jimmy Martin died.

"It was broken heart syndrome," McGowan-Baroni said of her mother's death. "You can quote Martin. He said 'Only Molly could die of a broken heart.' "