1922
Martha
2014
Martha Songer
January 27, 1922 — December 26, 2014
Martha Carolyn Moses Songer ascended to the next world on December 26, 2014.
Martha grew up in the Valley, going to school in Los Fresnos, Lyford, and San Benito, where she graduated high school in 1940. She was the editor of The Lyford Bulldog in 1938 – something of which she was always proud. She left the Valley at the start of World War II and worked at the Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation plant in Fort Worth for the duration. After the war she worked in San Antonio at Fort Sam Houston. It was in San Antonio that she met and married Murray Songer, and where sons David and Tim were born. Martha and Murray moved back to the Valley in 1961. In Harlingen she worked for the Harlingen Consolidated School District and for many years with realtor Bonnie Bahnman.
Martha loved and was loved by everyone she came in contact with. She did not see a child that she did not talk to and when visiting nursing homes she would stop and chat with everyone she encountered – whether they could respond with anything other than a smile or not. She was also a hospital volunteer for many years. She loved writing and literature and passed that love on to her sons, granddaughter, and now the great-grandchildren. She was active for many years in the First Methodist Church in Harlingen, and tried her best to ensure that her sons were aware of the spiritual nature of life. Martha’s household was always an exciting place to be, and never more so than in the fall when she rooted for the Greyhounds while her two boys were loyal Cardinals.
Duji, as she was known in the family, could be a mischievous homemaker. One didn’t know from day to day what creative invention would show up on the dinner table – maybe Crisco with yellow food coloring, or a cereal box that would have a mixture of cereals in it that gave a whole new meaning to “a surprise in every box”. Stories of the Valley in the ‘20s and ‘30s were always fascinating if maybe not completely factual – the 1933 hurricane after which she, her parents, and six sisters lived in a railroad boxcar and ate sardines because their house was blown away, the stories of the Great Depression that only in later years did we discover had a striking resemblance to Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath, with the Valley standing in for Oklahoma and California. Duji’s stories, factual or not, have bound us as a family. We take comfort in them to this day.
Martha was predeceased by husband Murray, parents John and Matilda Moses, sisters, Vivian, Johnnie, Dorothy, Rachel, Pauline, Kathleen, and two infant brothers. She is survived by son David and wife Maggie, son Tim and wife Christina and daughter, Francesca, granddaughter Kate and husband Bernard, and great-grandchildren Nuri, Lua, and Martha Raine.
The hole in our hearts created by her departure will not be filled. We will miss her so much, but know that her progress from this world to the next and in all the worlds of God is assured.
Martha’s family would like to thank Sandra, Vanessa, Peewee, Belinda, Amelia, Nellie, and everyone who showed her so much love and attention in recent years.
Visitation hours will be held on Wednesday, December 31, 2014 from 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM at Buck Ashcraft Funeral Home.
Graveside services will be held on Tuesday, January 6, 2015 at 9:30 AM at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio.
Martha grew up in the Valley, going to school in Los Fresnos, Lyford, and San Benito, where she graduated high school in 1940. She was the editor of The Lyford Bulldog in 1938 – something of which she was always proud. She left the Valley at the start of World War II and worked at the Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation plant in Fort Worth for the duration. After the war she worked in San Antonio at Fort Sam Houston. It was in San Antonio that she met and married Murray Songer, and where sons David and Tim were born. Martha and Murray moved back to the Valley in 1961. In Harlingen she worked for the Harlingen Consolidated School District and for many years with realtor Bonnie Bahnman.
Martha loved and was loved by everyone she came in contact with. She did not see a child that she did not talk to and when visiting nursing homes she would stop and chat with everyone she encountered – whether they could respond with anything other than a smile or not. She was also a hospital volunteer for many years. She loved writing and literature and passed that love on to her sons, granddaughter, and now the great-grandchildren. She was active for many years in the First Methodist Church in Harlingen, and tried her best to ensure that her sons were aware of the spiritual nature of life. Martha’s household was always an exciting place to be, and never more so than in the fall when she rooted for the Greyhounds while her two boys were loyal Cardinals.
Duji, as she was known in the family, could be a mischievous homemaker. One didn’t know from day to day what creative invention would show up on the dinner table – maybe Crisco with yellow food coloring, or a cereal box that would have a mixture of cereals in it that gave a whole new meaning to “a surprise in every box”. Stories of the Valley in the ‘20s and ‘30s were always fascinating if maybe not completely factual – the 1933 hurricane after which she, her parents, and six sisters lived in a railroad boxcar and ate sardines because their house was blown away, the stories of the Great Depression that only in later years did we discover had a striking resemblance to Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath, with the Valley standing in for Oklahoma and California. Duji’s stories, factual or not, have bound us as a family. We take comfort in them to this day.
Martha was predeceased by husband Murray, parents John and Matilda Moses, sisters, Vivian, Johnnie, Dorothy, Rachel, Pauline, Kathleen, and two infant brothers. She is survived by son David and wife Maggie, son Tim and wife Christina and daughter, Francesca, granddaughter Kate and husband Bernard, and great-grandchildren Nuri, Lua, and Martha Raine.
The hole in our hearts created by her departure will not be filled. We will miss her so much, but know that her progress from this world to the next and in all the worlds of God is assured.
Martha’s family would like to thank Sandra, Vanessa, Peewee, Belinda, Amelia, Nellie, and everyone who showed her so much love and attention in recent years.
Visitation hours will be held on Wednesday, December 31, 2014 from 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM at Buck Ashcraft Funeral Home.
Graveside services will be held on Tuesday, January 6, 2015 at 9:30 AM at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio.
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