Martha left us peacefully on March 4 in her Oklahoma City home of 54 years in the arms of her loving daughter and son-in-law. Her astonishing blue eyes debuted on October 2, 1921 in Tulsa, OK, when she was born to William Elias Palmer and Hazel White Palmer. She was also greeted by one older sister, Mary Ann. After graduating from Central High School and breaking countless Tulsa hearts, Martha continued her matriculation at Stephens College in Missouri and UT-Austin, where she pledged Kappa Alpha Theta and majored in beating her suitors off with a large stick. Martha worked as a runway model for The John Robert Powers Agency in New York and was an award-winning equestrienne. The eligible ladies of the American Southwest breathed a sigh of relief when Martha was taken off the market by her Tulsa, OK marriage to Carter Mullally, Jr. in 1948. She and Carter gave birth to the delight of Martha’s life, daughter Megan, in Los Angeles, CA in 1958. The threesome lived in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, Grosse Pointe, MI and Costa Mesa, CA before settling in the Nichols Hills area of Oklahoma City. Martha made a name for herself as an unflagging, supportive parent to Megan, then proceeded to win further accolades by successfully mothering a large portion of the rest of her community to fruition. Besides her contributions as a tirelessly devoted den mother and homemaker, she belonged to the Junior League, the Casady Mothers’ Club, Christ the King Church, Oklahoma City Golf and Country Club, Tuesday Book Club and Wednesday Study Club. She also served on the Casady School Board of Visitors, and the board of Ballet Oklahoma, of which she was one of the early founding members. In 2009 Martha was honored by The Lyric Theatre with a “Special Recognition Award as an Unsung Hero of the Stage”. After Megan left for college, Martha used her amazing people skills and sense of style to reinvent herself as a successful advertising salesperson and later as a sales consultant for Doncaster clothing. She was widely regarded as a warm, fun and elegant role model with a dependably sunny disposition, not to mention her notoriety as a picture of wit, positivity, and sage advice who didn’t suffer guff from anybody. She loved visiting Megan and her husband, Nick, in California, and also vacationing all over the country with them and her romantic partner, “Mr. Smith”. Her later years were especially blessed with affection for her wonderful companion, Nat Smith, who adored her with an equal fire. Preceded in death by her parents, her husband, her sister and her persistently gallant gentleman caller Nathaniel Bert Smith, Martha is survived by her exceptional daughter Megan, her son-in-law Nick Offerman, her nieces Ann Wagner Arutunoff and Cherry Fisher, and nephews William and Richard Wagner II, and their loving families. She is also survived by her brother-in-law Taylor Mullally and family, her gaggle of surrogate children, not least of whom include Rhonda Hefton, Melinda Compton, Kelsey Van Cleef, and Chip Oppenheim, her amazing, angelic caregivers, particularly her trusted and loving friends Denise Golston and Glenda Bell, and her faithful sentinel, heroic Cockapoo Lloyd.
A service will be held at 4pm on Thursday, March 7 at Christ the King Catholic Church (8005 Dorset Drive, Oklahoma City) with Father Rick Stansberry donning the vestment. She will be laid to rest at Rose Hill Cemetery in Tulsa. Memorial donations may be made in Martha’s name to Ballet Oklahoma or Lyric Theatre. If attending the services, the family asks that you eschew the traditional black dress code in favor of something bright and colorful that Martha would love.
