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Martha Mills Goodbar, 2016.09.26

Martha Mills Goodbar, 98, of West Memphis [, Arkansas], passed away Thursday, Sept. 22, 2016.

She was preceded in death by her first husband, Brack Mills; her second husband Clarence Goodbar [Sr.]; her daughter, Margaret Conner; and her brother, Ralph Tucker.

She is survived by her two grandchildren, Dee Bennett (Mike) of Hughes [, Arkansas] and Michael Sherman (Patricia) of Enterprise, Alabama; six great-grandchildren; and three great-great grandchildren.

Memorials may be made to the West Memphis Animal Shelter.

A graveside service was held on Saturday, at 11 a.m. at Crittenden Memorial Park in Marion [, Arkansas]. Online guestbook: www.rollerfuneralhomes.com/westmemphis.

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I think Martha and my grandfather, Clarence Sr., married before I was born. I remember going to Marion, Arkansas with my parents to the trailer park where Clarence and Martha lived on Willow Drive. Clarence and my grandmother, Iona Abbott, had divorced amicably, I suppose. Clarence and Iona would plan family get-togethers at Christmas; I remember one or two years going to a family Christmas party at the West Memphis Holiday Inn ballroom. Iona and Martha got along, from what I remember. In the mid-to-late 1980s Clarence and Martha moved from the trailer park to West Memphis into a small apartment. They stayed together until Clarence’s death in 1992. I had lost touch with Martha since then as I was in college, and my father had moved to Lake Village, Arkansas, by the time I graduated uni in 1993.

I attended the graveside service, and several of my relatives were there including James Goodbar and Harry H. L. Goodbar. I remember it being pretty warm despite being under a large tent for the service.