Etta Martin

Etta Duma Pruitt Martin was born on April 5, 1915, near Abilene, Texas to Ottie Duma and America Etta McCollum Pruitt. Like most women of her era, she mastered the skills of cooking, cleaning, gardening, canning, and sewing necessary for raising a large family, as well as the skills to be a successful farmer and rancher. Her natural work ethic and drive only developed with such duties, including one she often recalled with nostalgia, cotton picking. Her dignity and grace in dealing with life's most common, as well as it's most profound and often tragic conditions has inspired countless others through the years to strive to follow her example of genuine caring, morality and strength of character. A matriarch in every sense, she has especially left an indelible mark on each and every member of her loving family. Having settled in Siloam Springs in 1963, she worked for the local Wal-Mart store for 16 years until she retired in April of 1982. She served on the founding Board of Directors of the Siloam Springs Adult Development Center and delivered Meals-on-Wheels, among other volunteer activities. She attended the East Kenwood Baptist Church and was involved in numerous activities as a member of their congregation. She regularly visited residents of a local nursing home and took the time to write their life stories for them to share with their own family members. Etta was an active member of the Siloam Springs Writer's Club. An accomplished personal historian, Etta evolved her love a story telling into a successful writing career. From an early age she took every opportunity to listen in on tales told by relatives and through the course of her writing has managed to preserve those stories, as well as her own, for future generations. Her works include: "This and That", a personal biography with numerous short stories, two of which were published by the "Good Old Times" magazine in 2006, "From Etta's Kitchen", a book of recipes seasoned with stories of food and family, her genealogical works, "Chronicles of the Past" and "The Martins and Their Kin", "Over the Mountains and Through the Woods", an in-depth diary of her years in the Zuni Mountains of New Mexico, and her most widely read and well acclaimed novel of historical fiction, "Molly Anderson- The Saga of a Pioneer Woman", after having to rehabilitate herself, including having to relearn how to read and write, as effects of a stroke and corrective brain surgery. She attended many book signings in her honor, appeared on a local TV talk show, and was the subject of many newspaper articles and as published last year in the Calvert Texas Tribune, was "an engaging public speaker". At the age of 91 she continued to write daily on her second major novel until medical conditions prohibited. She was preceded in death by her husband Lindle Eugene "Curly" Martin, one son, Lindle Eugene "Sonny" Martin, two sisters, Mae Williams and Ethel Snell, and one brother, J.L. Pruitt. Surviving are her six daughters, and four sons-in-law, Faye Champagne and Bo Champagne of Mabank, Texas, Betty Steele and William Steel of Siloam Springs, Linda Miller and Dave Miller, of Colorado City, Colorado, Joyce Burns and Darene Bingham both of Springdale, Mimi Mathis and Jack Mathis of Fayetteville, and one son and daughter-in-law, Benny Martin and Vera Martin of Big Springs, Texas. Also surviving are two sisters, Nell Weisbach of Beaumont, Texas and Mary Boyd of Merkel, Texas, as well as 16 grandchildren; 88 great grandchildren, and eight great great grandchildren. Local memorial services will be 2:00 p.m., Wednesday, February 14, 2007, at East Kenwood Baptist Church, Siloam Springs, Arkansas with Rev. Marvin Loyd officiating. Visitation will be 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., Tuesday, February 13, 2007, at Wasson Funearl Home, Siloam Springs, Arkansas. Funeral services will be 2:00 p.m., Saturday, February 17, 2007, at Merkel First Baptist Church, Merkel, Texas, with a visitation prior to the service from 12:00 to 2:00 p.m.

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Etta Martin

April 5, 1915 - February 11, 2007