Jewell Davis Martin

Memorial services for Jewell Davis Martin, 90, of Brownfield will be at 1pm, Thursday, July 18, 2013 at Brownfield First Christian Church located at 1501 East Tahoka Road. Her nephew, Terry Groves will be officiating. Burial will be in Terry County Memorial Cemetery under the direction of Brownfield Funeral Home.

There will be a family visitation immediately following the service on Thursday in the Church Fellowship Hall.

Jewell was born in the Union community on December 10, 1922. She attended and graduated from Union High School in 1940. She loved to play basketball and tennis and was captain of her basketball team. She submitted the term “Union Wildcats”, which became the school mascot.

Jewell’s parents were John Riley and Ellie (Hargrove) Davis. Her parents farmed south of Brownfield for many years. Jewell’s family included her brothers Howard, Grady and Hershel Davis and her sisters Grace Cheatham, Lois Groves and Thelma Gerloff.

Jewell married James J. Martin on July 3, 1940 in Brownfield, Texas and was blessed with four children: Redelle (Howard) Hurd of Lubbock, Jimmy (Judy) Martin of Lubbock, Max Martin of Brownfield and Kathy Martin of Midland. She was also blessed with eight grandchildren and thirteen great grandchildren. Jewell is survived by her sister Thelma, her children, her grandchildren and her great grandchildren.

James and Jewell initially lived in and farmed near Gomez. They later moved to the Challis community just north of Brownfield before moving into town in 1959. Jewell and her family were members of Brownfield Church of Christ. She taught classes there and assisted with VBS for a number of years. James passed away February 4, 1996. They were married for almost fifty-six years.

Time passed so very fast. They lived in hard times and in the best of times. She experienced farming with horses to modern tractors, from washing laundry with rub boards to using automatic washers and dryers, and from travel in wagons to jets. Jewell said the best part of her life was when the children were young and under her care. She thoroughly enjoyed being a mother, a grandmother, a homemaker and a cook. She was also an accomplished artist and left her family with a beautiful collection of her painted porcelain and dolls.

God was good to the Martin family. There was enough happiness to keep them loving and enough hardship to make them strong. She tried to make each day better than the day before. Our mother and mamaw will truly be missed, but she is rejoicing in her reunion with her beloved husband James.