Martha Jane Western

Martha Jane (Hatton) Western, who devoted much of her life to her husband, Kenneth, and raising their five children in Denver, passed away on Aug. 28, 2018. She was 94. Martha was born in a farm house in Espyville, Pa. on Sept. 28, 1923, the youngest of five children. Her father, Roland Hatton, died when she was seven. Her mother, Sarah Algiamine ""Algia"" Fonner Hatton, worked hard to raise the children in a small two-story house in Espyville, not far from railroad tracks and the Ohio border. While the house had electricity and love, there was no bathroom, running water or a refrigerator. Milk and leftover food were kept in the basement. A pot belly stove in the living room provided the only heat in the house, which meant a very cold winter in the three bedrooms upstairs. Martha shared a bed with her older sister, Nathalie, and warmed the bed with soapstones heated on the kitchen range and then wrapped in newspapers. It was a happy childhood as Martha played with her siblings in the fields and woods, helped her mother around the house and listened to soap operas and comedies on the radio. A sign in the house that rang true with Martha read, ""Smile and the world smiles with you. Kick and you kick alone, for the cheerful grin will let you in. And the kicker is never known.""

 

Martha's mother, Algia, was a teacher, having graduated from Slippery Rock State Normal in 1911. But at that time the law said a teacher could not be married or have children. So Algia, a widow with five children, became a tax collector and took in washing, cleaned houses, cared for the elderly and did sewing to support her family. By the time Martha was 12, her mother became the tax collector for the township and became self-sufficient. Her mother instilled in Martha a strong sense of self-sacrifice and a willingness to hard work. Martha also gained from her mother a strong streak of independence and confidence. Martha was baptized in the Methodist Episcopal Church as a baby and grew up attending both that church and a Presbyterian church.

 

Martha graduated from North Shenango Central High School, which was a lot smaller than it sounds, on May 27, 1941. She was one of eight graduates. Martha played guard on the girls' basketball team and was a violinist in the school orchestra. The graduates took a senior trip to Washington, D.C. in two cars, having saved their money for a year to pay for expenses. When the eight graduates got together for a reunion 50 years later, it turned out Martha was the only one who left the area after graduation.

 

After graduation, with World War II underway, Martha moved 16 miles to Meadville, where she worked various jobs and attended a commercial college to learn accounting and secretarial skills. When she graduated from the college in April 1944, Martha moved to Cleveland, all of her possessions packed into two suitcases. She found a job at Chase Copper and Brass, a defense company. While still in Cleveland, she later worked at Truscon Steel as a secretary and then took a job working in records at Mount Sinai Hospital, the first of various jobs in the medical industry.

 

In September, 1947 Martha moved out West with her brother, Harold, who had enrolled in a school in gunsmithing in Trinidad, Colo. Martha knew instantly that the small town wasn't for her and moved up the road to Pueblo, where she took a job at the state hospital. After several months, Martha moved up the road again, this time to Denver, to work in the office at Beth Israel Hospital. Martha began attending First Baptist Church in downtown Denver, where she joined a large and active youth group. It was during a church outing at Palmer Lake, near Colorado Springs, that she met her future husband, Kenneth Western. They were married on June 9, 1951 in the chapel of First Baptist Church in a very small ceremony. Just the night before, Ken had graduated from the University of Denver with an MBA. They took off on their honeymoon in a 1941 Ford convertible, with stops at Palmer Lake; St. George, Utah, where Ken's brother Ray was working, and then Zion National Park and the Grand Canyon.

 

When the newlyweds returned to Denver, both were unemployed but they quickly found jobs: Martha with the City and County of Denver Health Department and Ken with Gates Rubber Co. and a short time later as an analyst with the Air Force Accounting and Finance Center, where he spent his career. In June, 1952, they bought their first house in southeast Denver. Six months later, their first child, Kenneth Jr., was born, to be followed by the births of Kathleen, Stephen, Janice, and Linda,. In July, 1966, having outgrown their first house, Ken and Martha bought a larger brick house on a big lot, also in southeast Denver. In 1967, Martha decided to go back to work and landed a job with Dr. Robert Hughes, a surgeon. She worked in his office for nearly 20 years, retiring in 1986. Martha greatly enjoyed the work and interacting with the patients and her co-workers, including Dena Stanton, and Dr. Hughes and Dr. Tanous Faris.

 

Upon retirement, Martha pursued her many interests, which kept her constantly busy. She spent about two decades researching the genealogies of the Hatton and Western families, among others, wanting to leave this history with her children. She was a diligent and resourceful researcher, accumulating many boxes of records and faded photographs. She took trips to Pennsylvania and Utah to do research and produced comprehensive books detailing the family's history for each of her children and grandchildren. A passionate interest of Martha was her large garden. Each spring for nearly 60 years, Martha planted her garden, growing corn, peas, carrots, raspberries, lettuce and other vegetables. Of course, that meant lots of freshly-baked raspberry pies for her family and fresh vegetables on the dinner table. Dinner was an especially happy time for her children growing up as Martha was an excellent cook and husband Ken kept the family in stitches with his wry observations on what had happened that day. Martha also volunteered at the Denver Botanic Gardens, joined origami and lace guilds, and was active at Wellshire Presbyterian Church. She was an accomplished quilter, leaving each of her children with a quilt. Martha and Ken also enjoyed traveling to England twice and took trips to Hawaii, Pennsylvania, Florida, New Jersey, Arizona, and other states.

 

Survivors include her children, Kenneth Jr. (Janice), Kathleen (Jean) Rasor, Stephen (Kelly), Janice (Robert) Gaccione and Linda (Rand) Nedved. She had 11 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

 

Martha was preceded in death by her parents, her husband of 64 years, Kenneth, brothers Harold Hatton, of Meadville, Pa., and Kenneth Hatton, of Worcester, N.Y., and sisters Nathalie Price, of Meadville, Pa., Frances Smith, of Sedona, Ariz., and Geraldine Heil of Leesburg, Fla.

 

A service celebrating Martha's life is planned for 1 p.m. Monday, Sept. 10, at Wellshire Presbyterian Church, 2999 S. Colorado Blvd., in Denver.

Interment will be at Fort Logan National Cemetery, alongside her husband. An informal ceremony will be held at 2:30 p.m.

 

Memorial Service: September 10, 2018 1:00 pm

Wellshire Presbyterian Church
2999 S. Colorado Blvd
Denver, CO 80222

Graveside Service: September 4, 2018 2:30 pm

Fort Logan National Cemetery
3698 S. Sheridan Blvd.
Denver, CO 80236