Martha Elizabeth Sullivan was born to Charley Marvin and Malissie Elizabeth (Moore) Jones in Canyon, TX, on March 30, 1931.
She passed away at the Corn Nursing Home in Corn on Nov. 27, 2023, at the age of 92.
When the Jones family left Texas, they moved to Dill City, OK. They later moved to Sentinel, OK. Martha started school at Sentinel with Miss Blanche Thomas as her first-grade teacher. Martha was the oldest girl and the third child of four. She had older brothers, Charley Horton and Robert Eddie, and a younger sister, Letha Mae.
Martha went all 12 years of school at Sentinel and graduated in 1949.
She married Kenneth Sullivan on Sept. 24, 1949. They lived in Sentinel for 35 years until Kenneth's death in 1984. Martha and Kenneth had three children: Jolene, Max, and Kim.
Being the wife of an independent trucker, Martha helped where she was needed. During the cotton harvest, she drove the tractor to load bales on the truck. She also tromped cotton seed in the semi-trailer as Kenneth loaded from the seed house.
She did all of this while raising three kids and washing basketball and baseball suits in the bathtub!
Martha and her daughter, Jolene Wolfenbarger, were the owners and publishers of The Sentinel Leader for 23 years, from 1999 to 2022. She enjoyed meeting people and sharing the Leader with friends.
Martha was a member of the NE church of Christ in Sentinel, where she taught children's classes, drove the VBS van, and served on the food committee for many, many years.
In 2020, she had a stroke, which eventually sent her to a nursing home, where she battled for over three and a half years.
Martha is survived by daughter Jolene Wolfenbarger of Sentinel; son and daughter-in-law Kim and Karen Sullivan, Sentinel; and daughter-in-law Pam Sullivan, also of Sentinel.
Seven grandchildren and their spouses: Keri and Toby Chism, Weatherford; Tara and Randy Smith, Marlow; Derik and Carla Sullivan, Zach and Becca Sullivan, and Jake and Michelle Sullivan, all of Weatherford; Kylee and Joel Wallace, Salina, KS; Tucker and Elizabeth Sullivan, Whitehouse, TX.
12 great-grandchildren and spouses: Jordan and Palmer Ferris; Hunter and Channing Chism; Steele, Harlie, and Stone Chism; Cooper and Brisco Smith; Taylor and Aubrey Manning; Sydnee Sullivan; Ellie and Scout Sullivan.
Great-granddaughter Hattie Gray Ferris and sister-in-law Janell Jones of Lawton.
Martha is preceded in death by her husband, Kenneth Sullivan; son, Max Sullivan; parents, C.M. and Malissie Jones; siblings, Charley Jones, Robert Jones, and Letha Young; grandson, Jesse Lynn Sullivan; great-grandsons Aiden Kenneth Sullivan and Boz Mac Sullivan.