( ...rosemary, that's for remembrance; pray, love, remember...--William Shakespeare)

How many people in this world who you've met can you say truly inspired you? Dr. Helen Martin was one of those people.

A revolutionary pioneer in diabetes research, Dr. Martin lived nearly her entire life with disabilities brought about from a childhood polio infection. She never let those troubles--or anything else--get in the way of her vision and enthusiasm.

Role model to her patients, her colleagues, and to hundreds of medical students lucky enough to take a class with her, Dr. Martin kept inspiring until her death at a fully-lived, happy 100 years old.

(I was fortunate enough to attend several of her lectures, and she did indeed shake her cane when she was displeased with something!)

Despite her parents' fears that the profession would be too physically demanding for her, Martin graduated from the USC School of Medicine in 1934 and became one of the nation's most respected women in medicine : as a physician, researcher and teacher.

During World War II, Martin became the dominant force of the USC clinical teaching program: After virtually the entire faculty -- members of the army reserve's 73rd Evacuation Hospital unit -- were shipped to the India-Burma theater, she was the only remaining full-time faculty member.

"For about 3 1/2 years, she held that whole department together. How she did it I don't know, but she did," said Dr. Robert Tranquada, a former colleague who became the Los Angeles County Hospital's medical director in 1969 and later dean of the USC School of Medicine.

Dr. Martin was also a brilliant researcher who helped pave the way for some of today's most innovative diabetes treatments. She will be sorely missed, but her memory and contributions will live on forever.

"The ethic that she taught to everybody was that the only reason the physician was there was to serve the patient; she would accept nothing less," he said. "I think it was just a magnificent contribution to the lives of literally hundreds of students and residents who went through her program. She was a remarkable person."