Martha Thompson

Martha Evelyn Simmons Thompson, 93, resident of Lewisburg, passed away Saturday, August 26, 2023, at NHC Lewisburg.

A funeral service will be held on Wednesday, August 30, 2023, at 3:00 PM in the chapel of Heritage Funeral Home with Rick Points officiating. Burial will follow in the Maury Memorial Gardens. The family will receive friends on Tuesday, August 29, 2023, from 4:00 - 8:00 PM and again on Wednesday from 2:00 – 3:00 PM at the funeral home. Heritage Funeral Home is assisting the family with arrangements.

Martha Evelyn Simmons Thompson was the fourth child of ten children to Rufus and Vona Coffman Simmons. At the age of five, Martha saw a picture of a pretty nurse wearing a white cap on the back cover of an Almanac.  That day she knew she was going to be a nurse when she grew up.  In 1950 she fulfilled her dream and graduated from St. Vincent’s Hospital School of Nursing in Birmingham, Alabama.

Martha studied to be a nurse at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama.  She studied Psychology in New Orleans.  She worked at Lloyd Nolan Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama, where she met her children’s father.  Around 1964 or 1965 they moved to Columbia, Tennessee where Martha started at the Emergency Room.  She then moved to work on one of the hospital floors.  Then she transferred to the Recovery Room where she stayed until she retired.  Once a nurse, always a nurse!  Martha loved being a nurse.

Martha was a devout member of the Church of Christ.  Jesus Christ was her savior.  She used teachable moments to lead those around her to the Lord!

Martha would often take her vacation holidays and weekend to care for family members.  She took early retirement to care for her aging parents. She called her children, “her three Skallywag,s”  and  they were always her “Babies” until the moment she went to Heaven.

She is survived by her son, Kenneth (Karen Jolene Moore) Thompson of Columbia, TN, daughters, Janet (Scott) Moore of Reno, NV, Sandra (James) Taylor of Santa Fe, TN, sister, Evie Simmons Vance of Georgia, nine grandchildren, seventeen great grandchildren, and ten great great grandchildren.

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her daughter in law, Terrie Thompson, granddaughter, Tanya Thompson, Brandy Thompson, Jill Twig, great granddaughter, Jackie Collins, and eight brothers and sisters.

Pallbearers will be Jim Taylor, Jamie Thompson, Joshua Thompson, Kenneth Thompson, Jacob Dodson and Doug Adkisson. Honorary pallbearers will be staff of Maury Regional and NHC Lewisburg.  In lieu of flowers, the family request memorial donations be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105, the Center of Hope, 110 E 7th St, Columbia, TN 38401, or the Alzheimer’s Association, 478 Craighead St #200, Nashville, TN 37204.