Martha Watters

MARTHA WATTERS

Marion

Martha E. Watters, 97, passed away Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2016, at Bickford Cottage, Marion. A memorial service will take place at the Rock Island National Cemetery on Oct. 28.

Martha Elizabeth Pritchard was born March 18, 1919, in rural Alba Township, Ill., to William and Mary Pritchard, the eighth of nine children. Martha attended country schools and graduated from Iowa State University in 1941, with a B.S. degree in home economics education. She married Paul W. Watters on June 28, 1941. After her husband's service in World War II, they eventually settled in Cedar Falls and lived there for many years.

She is survived by her sons, Brian (Deane) of Cedar Rapids and Allan (Cecilia) of Portland, Ore.; grandchildren Wesley Watters, Jonathan Watters, Joel (Rachel) Watters, Hannah (Greg) White, Martha Levien and Mark Levien; great-grandchildren, Lucy, Charles and Annie; and a brother-in-law, Bob (Phyllis) Watters of Bothell, Wash.

Martha became an international traveler at a very early age. Her mother, Mary, an Irish immigrant, returned to Ireland for a visit in 1919. She traveled by ship with her new child, six-month-old Martha.

Martha contracted polio in 1949 when the epidemic struck Omaha, Neb. Although the disease took away muscles in her shoulders and feet, she was determined to overcome this disabling illness. Progressing from crutches and braces, she eventually regained the ability to walk on her own. For the rest of her life, to climb steps meant a slow one step, one foot at a time. Even in her 90s, she would remark "I can do it myself" when the offer to push her wheelchair came.

Martha dedicated her life to being a homemaker and caring for her family. She supported her husband in the family construction business and instilled values of hard work, integrity and thrift in her children and grandchildren. Her faith in the Lord was evidenced by teaching Sunday school, the annual family cabin for the Cedar Falls Bible Conference, and those little pieces of paper stuffed here and there with Scriptures she had read or heard spoken from the Bible. Many beautiful quilts and other delicate handwork are her gifts to the family to enjoy and remember her by. Thank you for a job well done and a life well lived.

She was preceded in death by her husband of 72 years, Paul; daughter, Barbara Levien; parents; sisters, Mabel, Alice, Eleanor and Ruth; and brothers, Albert, John, Fred and Robert.

Memorials may be gifted to the Rotary Foundation's PolioPlus program to end polio now.

Online condolences may be directed to the family at www.iowacremation.com under Obituaries.