Calvary Baptist Church

Obituary

It is with saddened hearts but faith in God's divine mercy, that the cherished family of Barbara Ann Martin, age 74, of Monticello, Arkansas has to announce that she has passed on to see her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, that she loved so much on June 17, 2018. Ever courageous, not to be defeated until God was ready to call her home, she fought the good fight with her wonderful team of doctors, nurses, and staff members of The UAMS Multiple Myeloma Institute and Hospital in Little Rock for one year. Through their much appreciated efforts, from the start to the end, Barbara was able to spend that time with family, friends, see a Granddaughter get married, and her youngest Granddaughter graduate from High School. These are the things that she had set as her goals. Once those things were accomplished, God decided He needed this most devoted wife, mother, and grandmother to come to Heaven to join Him as His newest angel on the Streets of Gold. As a complication of her disease, she would succumb to it while trying to fight her way back into remission, with family and friends at her side at UAMS Hospital on Father's Day. God knows the time and the hour for us all, and there is comfort in knowing that it was His decision that He now needed his precious child and loyal servant at His side for all of eternity. The Heavenly Father loved her and she loved Him, and on Father's Day, she got to see Him in all of His glory. It is certain that she is having a joyous time singing her favorite song, "Love Lifted Me", with the angelic congregation. And it is even more certain that she is now at peace and in comfort.

Barbara Ann Martin was born in Monticello, AR in Drew County where she resided her entire life until her death. She was the middle daughter of the late John Sykes Griffin and Josephine Sawyer Griffin also from Monticello. She was a graduate of Monticello High School and as a teenager loved to go to local dances with her family, where she perfected The Two Step, The Waltz, and The Jitterbug. It was at a dance in Dermott, AR where she would meet her husband of 56 years, Robert H. Martin, from Wilmar, AR. When he saw her Jitterbug and how pretty she was, he had to dance with her. When she saw his clear, blue eyes, she decided right then and there she was going to marry him. That first dance would lead to marriage on February 16, 1962 and a lifetime of love, happiness, and family. They would dance and travel all over the USA in the pipeline construction industry until their retirement in 2011. Barbara was a devoted housewife and was known as an excellent cook. She loved her husband, her life, her home, and her family. She was a Southern Baptist, saved by God's grace and baptized into the faith by the late Brother Joe Worbington. She would later become a charter member of Calvary Baptist Church, which was began in her home in The Enon Community on September 25, 1985 under the guidance of the late Reverend Charles E. "Buddy" Carter. That church would eventually grow and require a new building at its current location in Monticello on Highway 425. She was proud of that church, was a dedicated member, loved her church family, and served as a Sunday School Teacher. Her illness was the only thing that could keep her from attending church "whenever the doors were open". But once she regained her strength in remission, she made sure she was back at church on Sundays to hear God's Word preached by her Pastor, Brother Gary Carter. Not to be "defeated by The Devil" she was proud to say to everyone in her last days that she taught her Sunday School Class once again two weeks before her death.

The walking definition of being a Christian, Barbara Ann was a charitable, selfless, and a giving person. She had a heart that had enough love for everyone she met. She would do anything for anyone to help them, even those who were not related to her. But most of all, and more than anything on this earth, she loved her husband and her two sons. She devoted her whole life to loving and caring for them. She was the wife and mother that everyone dreams of having in their life. As a wife she was devoted, loyal, in love, and committed. In regards to being a mother she was unwavering, caring, nurturing, protective, encouraging, steadfast, and strong. Her family home at 1464 South 16th Section Road in the Enon Community was her pride and joy, and she had an "Open Door Policy" to all that stepped foot on her front porch. She wanted everyone who came to her home to feel welcome no matter who they were or where they came from. No matter what, she opened her home, her heart, and her arms to all. Outside the doors of her home in her community, town, home state of Arkansas, and across the nation in her travels as a pipeliner's wife, she touched many lives with her smile and cheerful disposition. She believed in "Doing unto others as you would have them do unto you" and "To love thy neighbor as thyself", practicing it faithfully in words and deeds. To try and count the number of good things she did, or the lives she touched in her 74 years, would be as impossible as counting the number of stars in the heavens. And to be honest, she would never want them to be counted in the first place. That is because all of the good things she did for people was to give "God all the glory" and to not take any credit for herself. Besides being a homemaker, she was a former Enon Community 4-H Leader, a cafeteria worker at Monticello Junior High School, a Monticello School District Bus Driver, a member of The Teamsters Pipeline Union, and Committee Member and longtime Chairman for The Annual Pipeliner's Reunion. Due to her devotion as a pipeliner's wife, and her work later in life on the pipeline as a Teamster, she was inducted into The Pipeliner's Hall of Fame in 2006.

To bring an Obituary to a close is as difficult as it is to let go of someone who was, and will forever more, be loved by her family and so many. How can one ever sum up the life of anyone in just a few paragraphs? It is very hard to do. But, I will try in one single sentence: "Barbara Ann Martin was, as far as her family is concerned, the greatest wife, mother, and grandmother who ever walked on this earth." And because of the way she conducted her life, her memory will live on through her remaining family and others by what she showed them in the example she set for them. She believed in "Never giving up and never giving in". And that is what she would want for all that mourn her passing. Barbara Ann would want everyone to remember her well, and to do it with a smile. She would want us all to live our lives to the fullest and cherish all the precious memories. Barbara Ann Martin lived her life that way and she fought for her life that way until the very end surrounded by her family. And while we are so saddened that she is no longer with us, we can find comfort in that she is in Heaven having the time of her eternal life. She is rejoicing, and she would expect us to rejoice for her. And knowing her the way we do, there is one thing for certain, that if The Good Lord allows dancing on The Streets of Gold, the angels are in for one heck of a Jitterbug the likes The Pearly Gates have never seen.

Barbara Ann Martin was preceded in death by her father and mother, John Sykes Griffin and Josephine Sawyer Griffin; her eldest sister, Sylvia Griffin Forrest; and two twin boys who did not survive birth in 1969. Survivors include her husband, Robert H. Martin of Monticello; two sons, Dr. Robert H. Martin., Jr., MD of Monticello and Roger Dale Martin and wife Carole also of Monticello; one sister, Linda Griffin Heath, of Deer Park, Texas; six grandchildren, Brittney Ann Martin-Norsworthy and husband Seth Norsworthy, Austin Sykes Martin, Madeline Grace Martin, Meredith Jewel Martin, John Michael Efird, Max Hyatt Efird, Lexie Alexie Nichols; loving nephew Michael Leon Griffith, Jr, and niece Melissa Jo Griffith; and many other nieces and nephews way too numerous to list here, but rest assured, loved just as much in her heart. She especially enjoyed her relationship with her sister in law, Margaret Tucker, of Star City. Also of mention is a daughter in law, Angila Benson Martin. She is also survived by others she considered her family: Mary Thompson of Monticello as her other sister, Herbert Bradley of Monticello as the brother she never had, and Teresa Griffin of Ozone as like her own daughter. She also loved, cared, and appreciated Diane Marie Hof.