Maxie G. Martin

Maxie Grace Martin was born on February 16th, 1920 to Clyde Anderson Wherry and Ida Louise (Roby) Wherry in Dallas, TX. Her mother was a homemaker and her father was a commercial realtor. She attended Winnetka Elementary School and Sunset High School. After completing high school, she enrolled in Hockaday Junior College. She went on to attend Southern Methodist University in Dallas and graduated in June of 1941 with a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Commerce with a General Business major.

On September 14th, 1941 she married First Lieutenant Billy Dean Brundidge and accompanied him to his posting on the island of Oahu in the Hawaiian Islands. While her husband served our country in the Army, she was employed by civilian contractors working on the Pacific Naval Air Bases. Her employer wrote a letter asking that her request for exemption from evacuation to the mainland be approved. She later was offered a position as a clerk-stenographer in the office of the United States Employee’s Compensation Commission.

She and her husband were at home, in off-base housing on December 7th, 1941. Maxie remembered seeing the planes fly over on the way to drop bombs on Pearl Harbor.

Her husband was killed in line of duty at Moanalua, Oahu on August 25th, 1942. After his death, she returned to live with her parents in Dallas. She found a civil service job working for the Aid Service Command. She was an active member of her church and worked with a young women’s organization there.

She met her second husband, Grady Goodlett Martin, at church. After a going together for a long time, they were married in May of 1951. She became a full-time homemaker. Her husband joined her father’s commercial real estate firm. She and her husband had one son, Stephen. Maxie Grace joined her mother in working with the 4 and 5 year-old children in Sunday School for over 20 years. She also accompanied the church youth group on numerous outings while her son participated in those activities. Maxie Grace and Grady were married almost 42 years until he passed away in 1993.

As you know, Maxie Grace had a sense of humor and has been known to be a little mischievous. She and her mother played a trick on their pastor. They knew he would be visiting in their home for a church social. They determined which chair he would sit in and then hid an electric heating pad under the cushion. As he sat talking, they turned the heat up until he began to squirm, turned it off to let him cool off, and then turned back on again.

Maxie Grace is survived by her son, Stephen, and his wife, Susan; three grandchildren, Christine Anne Weppner, Angela Grace Slater and Sharon Marie Martin; and several great grandchildren.

A Celebration of Life service will be held Saturday April 2, 2016, at Three O’clock in the afternoon at the Forest Lawn Funeral Home Chapel with Chaplain Michel C. Bushey officiating. Entombment will be Saturday April 9, 2016, at Two O’clock in the afternoon at the Hillcrest Memorial Park in Dallas, Texas.

In lieu of flowers the family request donations be made in her memory to the Quality of Life c/o Ted Beasley The Bridge at Highland 215 Highland Circle Drive, Portland, TN 37148

The family will receive friends Saturday April 2, 2016, from 2 O’clock in the afternoon until the hour of the service at the Forest Lawn Funeral Home & Memorial Gardens.