Edith Martin

Edith May (McKenzie) Martin was born April 23,1936 in Wesley Hospital in Wichita Kansas to her parents Naomi (Raines) and Edwin McKenzie. She left us peacefully in her sleep at Cherokee County Nursing Home in Tahlequah on January 21, 2017.
Edith grew up in rural Greenwood County Kansas near the town of Eureka. She attended Quincy Schools, a small one room school that contained all ages of students through 8th grade. In order to get to school, she rode her horse (bareback, as her daddy wouldn't let them use saddles) every day for 3 miles rain, snow, sleet, or hail. It didn't bother her one bit though, she loved horses and she was a great rider. Her daddy had a farm with livestock, so from a very young age she had been on the back of a horse. In fact, her dad had his livestock shipped in on the railway to Tonavay Kansas where they would be unloaded to a stockyard holding area where she, her dad and brothers would come in on horseback to retrieve the herd and use their horses to drive the herd home.
Edith continued to ride those 3 miles to school until she reached 4th grade at which time the school got a bus, then she only had to ride her horse 2 ½ miles (ha-ha she'd say) to the bus stop. She was dedicated to school, a lifelong character trait. Her dedication earned her a certificate from the state of Kansas for perfect attendance, as she never missed a day of grade school.
Edith went on to high school in Virgil Kansas, her daddy had purchased an automobile and they drove her 6 to 8 miles to meet the bus that she rode on to Virgil. She played basketball during all her years of high school. She possessed a love of the game that later passed on to her grand and great grandchildren.
After graduating high school in 1954 she attended American Business School, a college, where she graduated Junior Accounting. While attending college she met the man who eventually became her lifelong love and husband, James more commonly known as Jim Martin or J.E. Martin.
Edith met Jim on a bet with her girlfriends who gawked over him and insisted she couldn't get his attention. Jim had been coming on his lunch hour from work to try and get another girl attending her school to go on a date. One day as her friends and her were discussing him, she proclaimed yes I can get his attention, so she stretched her feet out in his path and would not budge them, even when he asked her to move them, she told him no, why should I? Step over and so their story began. They would snap off back and forth, a banter that went on between them for some time in the days that followed. A chance meeting and all the ingredients of a true love story had been laid upon the table. Edith with her quick wit & persistence had met a comparable match, one that would later become a dynamic duo of a team.
After Edith graduated she had obtained a bookkeeping job in which she walked to every day. Jim also walked to the bank where he worked, as luck would have it, he noticed her one-day walking to work and figured out that her job was just before his only on opposite sides of the street, so he started walking with her each day after that and they fell in love.




Edith married Jim on July 1,1955. They resided in Wichita Kansas from 1955 until November of 1960. During their life there they had 2 children, first Joyce and then Daniel Lee. Edith and Jim, with his parents then made a purchase of rural land just outside of Stilwell Oklahoma, staying with Jim's parents until all the paperwork was complete and on February 21,1961, they were now proud owners of their very own farmland in the beautiful Southeastern foothills of the Ozarks, a small rural area called Piney, which they added to over the years. She happily resided therefor the rest of her life with her loving husband and best friend, Jim. Edith was not only a homemaker and mother but also Jim's right hand man, as he always called her, on their farm that they built which had livestock and broiler chicken.
Edith enjoyed sewing and was a very talented seamstress. She sewed all of her family's clothes, she also embroidered, quilted, and crocheted. She was so talented in that she could look over any outfit bought and make it herself. Edith also had a green thumb and thoroughly enjoyed gardening, not just flowers, she also planted, nourished, and preserved all of the family's food from their garden. Reading was another of her favorite past times that she highly encouraged within her family. Edith had a true love of animals from birds singing in her trees, to her barn cat, to the farm dog, and all in between, but most of all, she especially loved horses, Jim called her the horse whisperer, after all her daddy was a "real cowboy". She was an amazing cook and she loved cooking and baking alike. If you walked in her kitchen, you never left hungry or dissatisfied. Edith also loved to travel after her and Jim retired from farming they spent the next 6 winters in Arizona.
Edith was preceded in death by her son Daniel Lee Martin, her parents Edwin & Naomi McKenzie, and brother Marion McKenzie.
Edith is survived by her husband of 61 years (James) Jim E. Martin, 1 daughter Joyce (Martin) Matlock & husband Conley, 2 granddaughters, Jennifer (Wright) White & her husband Greg and Stephanie Renee Wright, 5 great grandchildren and 2 great great grandchildren. Edith was part of 5 living generations of women, one from the lineage she was born and one in which she was the matriarch & helped create. She is also survived by her brothers: James McKenzie & wife Carol, Tom McKenzie & wife Vickey, sister Patricia (McKenzie) Reed & husband John, a host of nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends. All of those she is survived by she loved & was loved by, she will be remembered fondly and dearly missed.

Funeral services were held at 2:00 P.M. Tuesday, January 31, 2017 Roberts/Reed-Culver Chapel with Bro. Darrell Self officiating. Interment followed at Stilwell City Cemetery Stilwell, Oklahoma

Visitation

Roberts/Reed-Culver Chapel
801 W. Locust Street
Stilwell, OK  74960
Monday, January 30, 2017
12-5 p.m.

Service

RobertsReedCulver Chapel
801 W Locust St
Stilwell, OK  74960
Tuesday, January 31, 2017
2:00 p.m.

Cemetery

Stilwell City Cemetery
Cemetery Road & Section Line
Stilwell, OK  74960