Martha Pauline (Smith) Keath

Nocona ~ Martha Pauline Keath, 103, a retired art teacher went to be with our Lord Tuesday, July 1, 2014 in Nocona.

Funeral is 2:00 p.m. Saturday, July 5, 2014 at First United Methodist Church in Boyd with burial in Boyd Cemetery. Family will receive friends 12 to 2 p.m. Saturday prior to the service.

Rev. J.D. Allen will officiate. Pallbearers include Perry Jennings, Paul Jennings, Travis Keath, Colby Keath, Matthew Keath and John Jennings.  Honorary pallbearers are Jerry Russel Keath, Edwin Lee Keath, Kathy Keath Lewis, Jim Keath, and Jay Hamm.

Martha was born April 29, 1911 to Paul and Willie (Hickman) Smith in Haslet, Texas. She was the only girl and the oldest of four siblings. Martha’s early life was spent traveling in a wagon. Her father was a road builder and she tended to her siblings and the horses.  Later, her family settled in Cotulla, Texas, home of cactus, rattlesnakes and scorpions. When she was born, William Henry Taft was president. There were few cars, no airplanes, no electricity, and no indoor plumbing. Women did not have the right to vote and people of color did not dare.  Martha remembers the church bells tolling to celebrate the end of World War I. She was something of a tomboy and loved playing baseball and shooting her guns and riding horses. In 1935, Grady Forbes Keath sent Martha a telegram saying he was coming to pick her up and they would be married.  This went as planned and they married in July of 1935, Grady took her to Boyd, Texas where he was the agriculture teacher. They were together through thick and thin. Martha settled in and began a family that included three boys and a girl. She sewed all the clothes, washed them on a washboard and ironed them. She made the butter, the cheese, the quilts and the soap. She canned all the food Grady grew.  Martha cleaned house without a vacuum cleaner or Windex. She raised her children. This was the life of many women, but Martha was not just any woman and although she loved her family, this life did not satisfy her.  Martha was very smart and a gifted artist. She wanted an education and when her children were old enough to care for themselves she went to college. She attended Arlington State College which is now UTA, Texas Women’s University and finally North Texas State where she achieved a Masters degree in art. She taught art in the Fort Worth schools.

Martha became the adored Memaw to seven boys and one girl. She was loving, kind and patient. But maybe more important she was curious, intelligent and pursued her love of art with a passion. Memaw’s grandchildren were blessed by her love but they were doubly blessed by the example of a person creating the life she wanted using her talents and gifts as she saw fit.

Martha’s life was one of many trials and tribulations. She responded to those by learning the art of being happy anyway. She adapted and moved on. Martha looked forward, never back.  When Grady died in 1983 she sold the house, donated the land for a senior citizens center, sold more land for an elementary school and built a new house. She finally had the time to be an artist full time. Her output was prodigious with family, friends, church and the community all benefitting from her talent.  In her nineties, Martha moved to Nocona to be near her daughter. She bought her own home and lived by herself happily painting until the age of ninety nine when she broke her hip. She then moved to the Cherry Street Assisted Living Community.

Words will never do justice to the gratitude the Keath family has for the people of Cherry Street Village in Nocona. From Mary and Lynn Adams to Hector the chef to Rhonda and Cheryl and to each and every lady that cared for Memaw you have our sincerest thanks. You have been the angels that made Memaw’s final years as happy and healthy as possible.

Martha is preceded in death by her parents, her husband and 3 brothers.

Those left behind to cherish her memory are her daughter, Betty Jennings and husband Wayne of Ringgold; her sons, Walton Earl Keath and wife Sonia of Arlington, Edwin Paul Keath and wife Mary of Dayton, Maryland and Adrin S. Keath of  Nocona; her grandchildren, Kathy Keath Lewis, Perry Jennings, Paul Jennings, Travis Keath, Colby Keath, Jerry Russel Keath, Edwin Lee Keath, Kathy Lewis Keath, Jenny Gibson, and Jim Keath; 8 great grandchildren; 1 great great granddaughter; extended family and a host of friends.

Christian-Hawkins Funeral Home, Boyd, Texas-940-433-5310