Martha Belle Woody Bush

Martha Belle “Boppie” Woody Bush was born on Thursday, October 27th 1932 in Lewisburg, TN, the middle child of David Dorrence and Mamie Lois Woody (Osborne). Her sister and brother were Mamie Jo (Woody) Hart and John David Woody, both deceased. She attended Little Rock High School in Little Rock, AR and Harding Academy in Searcy, AR and then Harding College, also in Searcy, AR. That is where she met the love of her life, Lloyd Bush, of St. Clair Shores, MI. Lloyd and Martha were married on March 27, 1954 in Baton Rouge, LA and enjoyed over 68 years together. In July 1954, Lloyd was drafted into the U.S. Army. He spent a year and a half in Karlsruhe, Germany and Martha spent a full month on a ship crossing the Atlantic to join him there. Their first daughter, Barbara Lois (Bush) Fry (Mike) only missed being born in Germany by a few months, but was born in Lewisburg, TN where they were staying with Martha’s parents after Lloyd’s honorable discharge. Lloyd spent most of his career working for the Food & Drug Administration, which resulted in a family move every time he was promoted, so each of their subsequent three daughters were born in a different place! Shirley Claire (Bush) Bagherzadeh (Ahmad) was born in Baton Rouge, LA, Merri Irene (Bush) Cunningham was born in New Orleans, LA and Andrea Leslie (Bush) Hopper Dozier was born in Atlanta, GA. In addition to Lloyd, Merri and Andrea preceded Martha in death.

While in New Orleans, Martha accompanied her neighbor Joyce Foster to Boeing (Joyce’s husband worked there) to test for a job. Joyce just wanted Martha there with her for moral support, but Martha is the one that ended up with a job at Boeing where they were building a rocket for NASA! Martha and Lloyd eventually ended up in Orlando, FL where they found their “forever” church home, Pinecastle Church of Christ. They loved it here so much that here is where they both stayed for the rest of their lives. Martha got a job as a secretary for National Standard Life Insurance and enjoyed many years there until her retirement in 1993. This is when she discovered her love of quilting, which she enjoyed until her death. She donated a quilt to the Mount Dora Children’s Home & Bible School almost every year after that for their annual auction. If you are lucky enough to have a “Martha quilt” then you know that you were loved.

In addition to her two surviving daughters, Martha is survived by 14 grandchildren and 4 great grandchildren. Martha was a wonderful mother, a Christian, an elder’s wife, a poet, a quilter, a precious friend and a beautiful soul and will be sorely missed by many in addition to her family!