Martha Marie Humphries

Born 14 July 1919 Lind, Washington

Martha was the eldest of four children of George & Bertha (Roloff) Roth. She & her brother Emil, & sisters Venita & Louella grew up on the family farm. When she was about thirteen, her father was killed in an automobile accident & her mother moved to Odessa with her children. There Bertha met & married Conrad Schauerman. Martha’s family became much larger with seven step-brothers & sisters. Martha went to Odessa high school & married her high school sweetheart Harvey Wederspahn.

They had three children: Gary, Karen & Keith.

She married Donald Humphries in 1954 & the life of an Air Force spouse began for her. They had daughter Lois; Karen married & Gary went to college. Martha had always wanted to be a nurse, but was busy being a Mom instead, so when she got a chance to train as a volunteer dental assistant, she was very proud. She also was a Den Mother for the Cub Scouts & helped in the Girl Scouts too.

Martha enjoyed being a military wife & traveling from station to station, north to south, east to west. As Don liked to travel by car, we truly got an opportunity to “See the USA in your Chevrolet”, complete with kids & assorted pets in the back seat. We lived in Mississippi, Idaho, North Carolina, North Dakota, & Louisiana; some bases more than once. They also visited California often because Don’s parents & brother lived there. But Olympia was our ‘hub’ because her brother, Aunt Tina & many more relatives lived here. Between each change of station, we would stay a while in Olympia. Marta (as her friends liked to call her) & Don retired in Lacey in 1969.

She made lifelong friends in their military travels & she loved to write letters & cards to them.

They bought a travel trailer & had many fun days camping with friends.

Martha belonged to the Gloria Dei Lutheran church & was involved with the Wedding Guild & the Quilting Circle.

Martha was proud that the quilters made as many as 600 quilts in one year to be sent to needy countries.

She was happiest when lots of family & friends were around. She loved family gatherings & would cook turkey, duck, goose, & bake pies that were delicious. Martha liked to cook old German recipes & we had a family favorite called Blena. Whenever a family member came from out of town, there would be a blena breakfast. Blena is a large potato pancake that became an anticipated family tradition.

There were many unofficial contests as to who could eat the most blena.

Besides visiting Gary in Colorado & Karen in Louisiana, Martha journeyed to Columbia & Switzerland when Gary & his family were there. Keith & his family took her on a long road trip to Alaska in 1999.

Lois & Blaine gave her a hot air balloon ride, something she always wanted to do, when she was 85.

Don passed away in 1996 & Mom stayed at the house for several years before deciding to live at Capitol Place.

She had many friends there & liked to play Scrabble, Rummikub & other games.

She enjoyed her soap opera All My Children & word search puzzles. She lived there for almost 9 years.

Martha left this earth to pass through the gates of Heaven on March 1st 2012. She is survived by her children Gary (Ann),

Karen (Marvin), Keith (Eva), Lois (Blaine) & grandchildren Brad Levine, Kathy Chinn, Kristen Jochum,

Maria Wederspahn, Anna Wederspahn & Lisa Wederspahn.

Great grandchildren are Bradley, Lacey, Brady, Zoe, Makenna, Maddison, Henry & Ellen.

She was very loved & will be very missed.