Martin O. (Ollie) Weddington has been an active member of the Twin Cities African American community for over sixty years. He was born in Kansas City, Kansas on November 15, 1917 and as a second-grader, Weddington and his family, moved to St. Paul, Minnesota. As a teenager he joined the juvenile Elks and graduated from Mechanic Arts High School in 1937. Martin and Sallie Mae Weddington married in 1939 and they had one son, Martin William Weddington, in 1941. During World War II Weddington worked at the Twin Cities ordinance plant and was a company clerk for the United States Navy. In 1948 he began a 27 year career with the United States Postal Service in St. Paul, retiring in 1975. For a time thereafter, he worked as an investigator of disputes between employeers and employees.
Weddington started attending Pilgrim Baptist Church in 1924 and through the years sang in the choir, ushered, taught Sunday School, and participated in the church's boy scout troop. Weddington also played football for the Welcome Hall and Hallie Q. Brown teams and coached basketball for Hallie Q. Brown. Among other activities Weddington served as president of the Credjafawn Social Club, the Sterling Club, the Twin City Reel and Trigger Club, the Twin Cities Council of Clubs, and as post commander of the American Legion Attucks-Brooks Post 606. Weddington also was active in community affairs in the Summit-University neighborhood of St. Paul as a member of the Aurora St. Anthony Block Club and in 1989 helped shut down three pornographic bookstores in the neighborhood.
Martin Weddington has been active in democratic party politics for years with his highest honor being a presidential elector for Minnesota in 1988. Weddington has been active with the traditionally African-American Prince Hall Free and Accepted Masons for many years and was Grand Master for the Minnesota jurisdiction, with eleven lodges, in 1971. In the mid-1990s, the traditionally white Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and the African-American Prince Hall Masons began to recognize each other and in 2000, Weddington became the first African-American in Minnesota to become a master in both groups when he became master of Cass Lodge No. 243 (Coon Rapids) Ancient Free and Accepted Masons.
From the guide to the Martin O. Weddington Papers., undated and 1921-2001., (Minnesota Historical Society)
