Martha Dovie Craft Tucker: Centralia ward History
Written for Martha for the Stake Memory book
Martha’s Centralia Ward History
Martha Tucker came to Centralia to live with her family, Nancy and Allen Menke
and their children. She lived next door to the Menke’s on their gentleman’s farm and her
favorite place to sit when weather would permit was on her front porch overlooking their
garden and acreage.
Martha’s first introduction to the gospel came when the missionaries came to a
place called Mt. Shasta, California. Her friend Marguerite Glidden was a member of the
church and lived next door to her. Marguerite would have the missionaries over to visit
and they would have what they called then, cottage meetings. Martha would listen to
their singing when often, although she would not let the missionaries come to her nor
would she go to the cottage meetings for her family was from Missouri and hated
Mormons. However, one time she heard them singing “O My Father” and realized that
she was crying as she listened to the song. “It struck a chord deep inside me and I knew
it was true.” She would say. After that she listened to the gospel and was baptized in the
due course of time…on a cold day in March (the 17 th to be exact). It had been raining and
there was ice on the river that she was baptized in, but the sun came out long enough for
the baptism ceremony and then clouded over again. And, so she counted the 17 th of
March as her “birthday,” although her actual birthday was February 4, 1904.
Martha lived in California most of her life, her parents bringing her there when
she was still a very young child. She went to San Francisco in her late twenties and there
met the man she would marry. They were Sunday School teachers together. She sang a
good alto and was a member of the choir there also. She was very proud of having sung
for President George Albert Smith when he visited their area and was able to meet him,
shake his hand. Martha had many trials in her life that tested her metal and so she
developed an ironclad faith in the gospel.
So, when the family moved to Centralia, Martha followed along with them. She
and her daughter, Nancy, were very close to each other. She actually arrived in the area a
few weeks before the rest of the family. She arrived just after Christmas in 1978, the
coldest winter in memory since that time. She had a house with a fireplace and an oil
furnace but by the time she arrived in Centralia, the oil furnace which had been left on to
keep the pipes from freezing was out of oil. She had plenty of firewood, but it was still in
logs and needed to be chopped. It was the New Year’s week-end so there weren’t any
businesses open so that she could get the oil refueled and the logs needed chopping. So,
she called the bishop and said… “Help.” The bishop called on the Richardson boys to
come help and out came Bob Richardson and his big boys and chopped wood for Sister
Tucker. That was our introduction to the Centralia Ward, Centralia Stake, Washington.
When Nancy got to the area, Martha and she went to church together and when
they went to Relief Society, they were greeted at the door with a sister who was also
called Martha who was in the Relief Society Presidency. This Sister Martha would greet
all who came in the door with a hug and a big welcome. Martha Tucker had come home.
She felt so loved and welcomed as she came to Centralia that she always felt that this was
her home although she had lived up and down the State of California. The only place that
came even close to being home to her was her beloved Mt. Shasta where she had done
most of her growing up into adulthood.
When she passed on to the other side, her family took her body back to Mt. Shasta
to bury her there with the rest of her brothers and sisters and their spouses. Her burial
spot looks up to her beloved mountain.
Martha had climbed Mt. Shasta to the summit several times and loved to tell of
her times climbing that peak. She was introduced by some Norwegian men to the sport
of skiing there in Mt. Shasta. These men were the first to bring skiing to the United
States. She loved going cross country skiing into the mountains.
Many members of the Centralia Ward have fun stories to tell of the spicy Martha
Tucker. She spoke her mind, candidly and often. Harry Hillstrom tells of the time he and
his partner came over to visit Sister Tucker and his partner was warming up perceptively
to his subject and she sat waiting never very patiently for him to take a breath, when he
did, she interrupted with a “if you would just shut up for a moment, I’ll tell you about
that!” Brother Terry Andrus was her home teacher when she passed on and spoke at her
funeral. He told of some of the times he would come and visit with her. He brought her
the sacrament every Sunday after she got so she couldn’t get out to church. Brother
Andrus would sit and tell her about the sacrament meeting, the speakers, and help her feel
like she had been in church that day. He was a special home teacher since they
developed quite a lot of respect for each other.
Martha got up and bore her testimony one Sunday about her second birthday and
one of the young women in the ward at the time picked up on it, sending her a birthday
card on the 17 th of March. She was so very touched by that gesture. Later, the Laurel
girls made a quilt in Young Womens under the direction of Laura Harmon and she was
the recipient. That quilt had a place of honor in her home. She was very touched by their
thoughtfulness and the love that making and giving her the quilt evidenced. Nancy now
has the quilt in her home.
She was a good scriptorian and studied the gospel. She had a good gospel based
library and used it often. Her favorite subject besides the gospel was studying Spanish.
She joined the Senior Citizens group in Centralia and would often play scrabble in
Espanol.
When Martha graduated this earth life, we all celebrated her long life (she lived to
be 92 years old) and her goodness. She had many struggles and her faith carried her
through these struggles. When Martha was just turning 80 years old, she had a stroke
which left her partially paralyzed and she had to use a walker the rest of her life. She
would pick up her walker and carry it with her as she briskly walked into church. We
often chided her for taking it with her, but she was unstable at times and it gave her a
sense of balance. Her favorite activity while she was able to get out of her home was to
go to the temple and worship there.
On Martha’s 90 th birthday, we had a big celebration and had all of her children
and grandchildren come from all over to be with her as the ward came to help her
celebrate. The party was held at Barbara and Jon Dahle’s home. Everyone who came
and many friends who could not come, wrote her letters about their favorite experiences
with her. She was given a Book of Remembrance so she could record her genealogy.
Martha Tucker loved Centralia and the wonderful people here who took her to
their hearts and that love made her last days on this earth special and good.
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