Martha Magdalena Meilke Colley

Martha Colley, age 95, died Dec. 23, 2011, at Kym’s Cottage in Graham, Wash., with loving family around her. She was a longtime resident of Connell.

She was born Aug. 5, 1916, at the family home near Roxborough, Wash., the eighth of nine children of Emmanuel and Mary (Sackmann) Meilke. She attended Lind schools, graduating from Lind High School.

She married Marion Colley on Dec. 26, 1937, in her family’s home in Lind. They farmed in the Connell area until 1959, when health issues forced her husband to retire. After his retirement, they traveled across the United States including the Ozarks, the White Sands of New Mexico, and Bryce and Zion Canyon National Parks.

Their marriage was blessed with five children: Marilyn (Charles) Actor, Douglas (Linda) Colley, Patricia (David) Jones, Timothy (Faye) Colley and David Colley.

The family says she loved her husband and children and was fiercely protective of them. She resided in Connell until 1991, when she moved to Kent to live near her daughter, Patricia.

The family knows of her skills in the kitchen and remembers those delicious holiday meals when the tables would stretch throughout the house as she fed more than 20 people at a time.

She was hard working, cooking for large harvest crews in the days of coal and wood stoves. She always said the coming of electricity greatly reduced her workload. Her cakes and pies were prized by all who shared them.

The family notes she loved to tell stories, and her keen wit and sparkling eyes made the stories come alive for those around her who laughed until they cried. She loved to do embroidery, and her creations are treasured mementoes to her descendants.

She is survived by four of her children, seven grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren, three great-great-grandchildren, numerous nieces, nephews and close friends.

She was preceded in death by her husband in 1967; son, David; her parents and all her siblings.

Memorials may be made to the American Cancer Society or to the Hospice organization in your area.

Private interment will be at Desert Lawn Memorial Park in Kennewick.

Mountain View Mortuary of Tacoma is in charge of arrangements.