Martha Lou Talmage

Martha Lou Talmage arrived on November 16, 1942, at Jane Phillips Hospital in Bartlesville, OK, the daughter of Willard Augustus Talmage and Vira Pearl Platt Talmage — and from that day forward, she was determined to do things her own way.

Martha remembered a wonderful childhood on South Osage in Bartlesville, where the neighborhood ran thick with playmates and the family yard ran thick with livestock. Over the years, the Talmage menagerie included cats, dogs, chickens, rabbits, and a duck, plus brief and memorable cameos from a goat and a pig. It was excellent training for a life in which Martha would never quite be without an animal at her side. She attended McKinley and Southview elementary schools, Central Junior High, and College-High, graduating proudly with the class of 1960, which she will tell you, without hesitation and possibly without provocation, was “the best class to ever graduate at Col-Hi!”. In school she made lifelong friends including Marletta Cruzan Walker and Karen Nordstrom Hobbs.

In the summer of 1961 Martha took what was billed as a “temporary” summer job at Phillips 66, delivering mail around the offices. Thirty-seven years later, she finally clocked out apparently nobody had told Martha what “temporary” meant. In the meantime she had worked her way up to draftsman in the International Department and, in an era when women were finally being promoted, retired as Supervisor of Drafting for International Exploration and Development. Between father and daughter, the Talmages gave Phillips 66 a combined 66 years, a coincidence Martha found deeply satisfying. She absolutely loved Phillips and the people she worked with.

In 1972, Martha married Marvin “Mack” Ledgerwood and they later divorced. They had no children. Martha later described herself as having been happily married, happily divorced, and happily single — and was, above all, very happily retired.

After retiring in 1998, Martha’s home became the headquarters of the 9 a.m. Coffee Club, a daily gathering of dear friends who came to share life’s stories with equal parts laughter and sympathy. Over the years they included, among others, her cousin Vernon Myrick, Marletta Walker, Roane Fowler, Johnny Watters, and Charles and Sandy Lee. A sign over the table read, “Lots of tales told here. Some true.” Regulars knew which category most of them fell into.

Hospitality was Martha’s superpower. For decades, her backyard pool was open to friends, neighbors, and a steady parade of children — many of whom she barely knew when they arrived and somehow knew quite well by the time they left. Few things in life made her happier than a house full of people enjoying themselves in her home and in her pool. More than once, she invited a family in crisis to share her home for up to a year while they got back on their feet, and she performed countless other quiet acts of kindness she would have been embarrassed to see listed here. The rest of us should take notes. Those who benefited from her hospitality remember being treated like treasured guests.

Martha’s other passions were many and pursued with characteristic intensity. She was a master gardener whose plants knew better than to disappoint her, and she landscaped and maintained her large yard herself and with help from her dear friend Jim Jon Burchett. She designed and executed her own remodeling projects on her home and the apartments she owned, for as long as her shoulders and patience held out. After the 1986 flood left 36” of water and mud in her home, she was deeply touched by the large number of Bartlesville residents (some of whom she didn’t even know) who showed up, rolled their sleeves up and pitched in to help.

She loved her dogs deeply and serially: a Sheltie, schnauzers, and a couple of Dobermans, one of which she traveled around and showed for a stretch — because if Martha was going to have a dog, that dog was going to have a resumé. She also had a lifelong love affair with cars, beginning with an Austin Healey Sprite that she drove in TSD Rallies and raced at Hallett, and a particular fondness for small cars with the top down, taken on long trips with a cat or dog riding shotgun. On the opposite end of the automotive spectrum, she piloted her 32-foot motor home from Bartlesville all the way to Vancouver with Charlie and Sandy Lee, proving that anything with wheels was fair game. She spent a number of winters living in that motor home in South Texas, parked on the beach with her cousin Vernon, who was a steady companion and inspiration. She also served nine years on the Bartlesville Park Board, where her opinions on landscaping were, of course, not merely welcome but inevitable.

Martha was an enthusiastic and unintimidated early adopter of technology. She bought every new gadget that caught her eye, mastered it quickly, and folded it into her life with the confidence of someone half her age. She also loved genealogy, and pursued it with the rigor of a federal investigator. She traced both sides of her own family, built an extensive website where relatives could explore the results, and frequently researched and assembled family trees for her friends as well.

Martha was predeceased by her parents, Vira and Willard Talmage, as well as many extended family and longtime friends.

She is survived by her sister, Judy Cotter and Judy’s husband Joe; her nephew Mike Cotter and his children Ryan and Skylar; her niece, Tracy Germani, and Tracy’s children Diego, Mateo, and Lucas; her nephew Joe Cotter, his wife, Hanjin, and their daughter, Shae; and a number of much-loved cousins.

A memorial gathering will be held Friday, May 8 from 2-4 pm at her home, 1910 Hillcrest Dr., Bartlesville.

For those who are interested, because Martha loved the Pathfinder Parkway, donations can be made in her name for enhancements to the Parkway. Checks would be sent to City of Bartlesville, Attn: Bobby Robinson, 401 S. Johnstone Avenue, Bartlesville, OK 74003. The check should be noted as follows: "In Memory of Martha Talmage for Pathfinder Parkway Enhancements". Arrangements are under the direction of Arnold Moore & Neekamp Funeral Home of downtown Bartlesville. Online condolences may be left at www.honoringmemoriesbartlesville.com.