Martha Louise Clark Farson

Martha Louise Clark Farson departed from us on Sunday March 9, 2025 at Charter Senior Living of Godfrey, Illinois. She was born May 9, 1927 in Ava, Noble County, Ohio, the second of Helen and Paul Clark’s three children. She graduated from the Caldwell, Ohio high school in 1945, and from Ohio State University in 1949 with a degree in Home Economics. She worked as a County Extension Agent in Brown County, Ohio.

Martha married Robert F. Farson on September 13, 1953 in Caldwell, Ohio. They settled in Lowell, Ohio where they were members of the United Methodist church, and raised four children. Martha leaned into a self-sufficient rural lifestyle, raising a half-acre garden every year. Much of the mid-summer was spent harvesting and freezing corn, beans, peas, strawberries, wild blackberries, and canning peaches, green beans, rhubarb, and tomato juice. Crates of potatoes and sweet potatoes were stored in the cellar, and two 20 cubic foot freezers were filled with the frozen vegetables and fruit, packaged meat from a cow butchered each fall, and deer meat from the annual hunt.

As the children grew, Martha led them in earning money for their further education by operating a one-acre pick-your-own strawberry patch for several years. Revenue was enhanced by having the children pick and sell some of the berries at a premium price out of the back of the family car at the end of the driveway beside the state highway.

Late summers were a time for epic four-week family trips, with a folding tent-trailer behind the station wagon, to many national parks. Skyline Drive, Blue Ridge Parkway, Smokey Mountains, Mount Rushmore, Badlands, Yellowstone, Tetons, Rocky Mountains, Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Pike’s Peak were a few of the highlights.

As the children left home, Martha joined Robert on his motorcycle for several multi-week trips, including to Prince Edward Island, and Seattle. They enjoyed a trip to Farson family ancestral areas of Ireland with relatives in the 1980’s. They vacationed in their RV for a few years, owned a winter residence near Sarasota FL near several relatives, and enjoyed spending four months there each year for about thirteen years.

The Lowell United Methodist Church and its women’s group was a large part of her life during all the years she lived in the area.

Martha was preceded in death by her husband Robert in 2009, her brother David Clark, and her sister Garnet Evilsizer. She is survived by her four children; Dan Farson (Marie) of Godfrey IL, Deborah Hamilton (Keith) of Napa CA, Dave Farson (Paula) of Hilliard OH, Max Farson of Greer SC, seven grandchildren, two great-children, and several nieces and nephews.

Donations in Martha’s memory are suggested to the Lowell United Methodist Church, 323 Fourth Street, Lowell Ohio 45744.