Martha Grace Green

After a period of declining health, Mrs. Martha Grace Green passed away peacefully on Sunday, November 30th, 2014. During her last days, four generations of Martha Grace's family gathered to celebrate her long life and to remember her devotion to us all. She was a woman of deep and abiding faith, and while the end of her earthly life is a heartbreaking loss for us all, it surely signifies victory for her. She always believed Jesus was her best friend and that her goal in life was to please Him every day; she did so, even in death.

Martha Grace was born in Montgomery, Alabama on July 25th, 1919, the only child of Harvey and Gertrude Sarber. On July 7th, 1942, she and G. Carl Green married, and their union lasted 68 years. The couple had two sons, Stephen and Stanley. Martha Grace received her B.A. in 1941 from Samford University and then her M.Ed. in 1951 from University of Tennessee at Chatanooga, no small accomplishment for a woman born in 1919. She began her teaching career in 1941 teaching at many schools in Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, and Alabama. During this time she taught English, History, Math, Auditorium, Speech, and Music to students ranging from third to tenth grades. She also served as Principal of Tennessee Temple Elementary School and Chairwoman of the English Department. After moving to Winston-Salem in 1970, Martha Grace taught speech at Piedmont Bible College and began writing a column in Daybreak magazine called ""Pockets for our Aprons."" For eleven years she wrote this column, and she felt like the Holy Spirit gave her direction and that the Lord wanted each article to convey practical, down to earth messages to all his Christian workers. Each article carried the caption, ""May these thoughts be as practical as the pockets for our aprons."" Later in life, at the age of 88, Martha Grace published a book of these writings and others entitled Pockets for my Apron. She hoped the book would encourage others to have a more personal connection to Christ through daily devotions. For 60 years, as the wife of a minister, Martha Grace experienced almost every aspect of leadership service. As a pastor's wife, she was a pillar of strength for G. Carl and truly understood the meaning of teamwork. G. Carl and Martha Grace served in churches throughout the Southeast including Faith Baptist Church in Winston-Salem from 1981 until 2000, when they retired in Winston-Salem and attended Calvary Baptist Church.

Martha Grace was a sharp business woman and a keen negotiator. She was a woman of delicate features and a happy smile (a ""living doll"" as G. Carl would say), and she spoke with confidence and clarity (""Enunciate your words, ladies,"" she would say with a smile). Though barely 5 feet tall, she would stand up straight and tell anyone how she felt if something needed to be done. Through her public speaking, she was an inspiration to everyone she met including scores of women in the ministry, and she continued to speak at church events and women's retreats until the age of 92. She traveled the world visiting countries like India, England, Ireland, Scotland, Italy, Portugal, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Greece, Egypt, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Lebanon, New Zealand, and parts of Asia. She enjoyed sharing these experiences in her lectures and slides. Martha Grace considered the closeness and loyalty of her family to be her greatest blessing and achievement. Indeed, her dedication to her husband, sons, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren endured until her last breath.

Mrs. Green was predeceased by her humble parents, Harvey and Gertrude Sarber, her loving husband G. Carl Green, and by her son, Stanley Norris Green, whose service and ultimate death in Vietnam was a source of both pride and heartbreak. She is survived by her son, Stephen Clark Green; her grandchildren: Stan B. Green, Sunny and Joel Cordray, and Shea and Chuck Jones; her great-grandchildren: Stan, Jack, David, and Alexander Green; John, Eliza, and Nicholas Cordray; and Charlie, Reece, and Cooper Jones. She will be greatly missed. Funeral services will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, December 6th, 2014 at Calvary Baptist Church. The family will receive friends at 9:00 a.m. prior to the service. We would like to thank the doctors, nurses, and staff at Homestead Hills and Kate B. Reynolds Hospice Center for their loving care of our precious Maw-Maw.

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