Thelma Jean Martin

Sorry!' Champion, Uno enthusiast, Sudoku master, prolific song composer, Popsicle connoisseur, Dallas Cowboy's greatest fan, the most talented female basketball player in the 1930s, "Mikey," "Mommy Jean." Elegant, classy, and intelligent. Optimistic, encouraging, and wise. Generous, unselfish, and loving.

Daughter of PaPa and Granny; sister to Betty Lou, Clare Mae, Sam, Dot, and Ernie; cousin to fifty cousins; wife of William Carroll Martin; mother of Lucy; mother-in-law to Mark; grandmother to Gina, Tara, and Kristin; grandmother-in-law to Terry, Danny, and Anil; great-grandmother to Kelin, Ben, and Thea. So richly loved; such love freely given.

Thelma Jean Martin was born on November 3, 1925, in Avoca, Texas. The third child out of six, she grew up on a farm with no idea of the Depression. As she often commented, even though her family had so little in the way of material possessions, she lacked nothing in love or food as they were all well-fed by Granny's wonderful meals. She graduated salutatorian of her high school in 1943, even after missing the first month of school each year to pick cotton to be able to pay for her clothes for school the rest of the year. She received a scholarship to attend college, but chose to work in Dallas with her cousin Mary and best friend Francis, a decision we are thankful for because it was in Dallas at the State Fair where a tall, slim Navy Sailor home on leave spied a beautiful young "Jeanie" from the top of a Ferris wheel, and the two fell in love. A WWII romance of 18 months of letter writing followed, the end of the war, a ship empty of supplies and food sailing in to San Francisco, a train ride to Norman, OK, for discharge, and then a wedding in Dallas, TX, on January 14, 1946, where Bill and jean began their lives together. Later on "Lucy Lockett" arrived, and their family life began. But the oil fields were calling, necessitating a move to Houston, TX, in 1954 to the home we all love on Tartan Lane. They became quite a team with Mommy Jean meticulously keeping all of the books and typing the leases, and Daddy Bill driving many miles back and forth to their wells in Damon, TX, where they persevered through many a dry hole and thankfully some good wells, too, which provided for Mommy Jean after Daddy Bill's passing 8 years ago.

Always ready to love on and help with her grandchildren, MJ drove countless miles up and down South and North Braeswood in her Oldsmobiles picking up her granddaughters from school and taking them to ballet and then home while Lucy taught piano. She loved Westbury Baptist Church, serving on the WMU and teaching GA's and children's Sunday School. When great grandchildren arrived, Mommy Jean shared her love, laughter, and time with them as well. We are missing that laughter and her happy nature, her words of encouragement and wisdom.

We honor Mommy Jean for her life well-lived, her faithfulness to her Savior Jesus Christ, and for her time and love so generously given.