Search Results

FITCH, MARTHA A celebration of the life of Martha Fitch, 78, of Grove, OK, will be at the Becker-Rabon Funeral Home Chapel, 1502 Fort Sill Boulevard, Lawton, OK, on January 30 at 12:30 pm with a ceremony at Fort Sill National Cemetery, Elgin, OK, following at 2:00 pm. Pastor Steve Smotherman of Legacy Church, Albuquerque, NM, will officiate. Martha passed from this life to a better one on January 24, 2015 in Grove due to complications of her six-month illness. Martha was born to Mildred (McLaury) and Arthur David Frederick on December 16, 1936 in Ponca City, OK, where she spent her childhood. She attended the University of Oklahoma at Norman for two years, pledging Delta Gamma Sorority, and then transferred to the University of Kansas in Lawrence, where she graduated in 1960. She married the love of her life, University of Kansas football player, Kenneth Leroy Fitch on 30 August 1958 in Lawrence. Kenny Fitch went into the Army and, as Martha said, she was his "camp follower" to posts across the United States for the next 20 years, including Fort Sill, OK, in 1972. In 1982, a year before her husband retired from the Army as a lieutenant colonel, the Fitches moved to Albuquerque where they lived until their second retirement in 2008 to Grove. For many years, Martha had taught high school and middle school history and social studies in various states, including to gifted and talented students, with her last 15 years in public schools in Albuquerque. She was a finalist for Teacher of the Year Award in Albuquerque, chaired the committee that received the NM Middle School of the Year award twice and received the Blue Ribbon School Award in the Rose Garden of the White House from President G.H. Bush. Next she tackled a lifelong dream: she started Legacy Academy, a pre-K five through eighth grade Christian private school, of the Legacy Church in Albuquerque and served as the school's first principal for five years, shepherding the school through accreditation. The academy was the largest start up of an ABEKA (Christian private) school in America. As principal, she established the Legacy Academy Endowment Fund to, as she put it, "leave a legacy for the children." Martha excelled as an Army wife. In 1975, the commanding general of Fort Sill awarded Martha the Molly Pitcher award and medal for outstanding volunteer service to the Fort Sill community. Survivors include Martha's husband of the home; three children: Stacy van Oene and Ian, Gilbert, AZ, Kenneth Leroy Fitch, Jr., Saint Petersburg, FL, and Ashley Crawford and Scott, McKinney, TX; six grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; two brothers: David Frederick, Oklahoma City and John Stephen Frederick, Longview, TX; her dear cousins and their talented children; and a host of other special family members and friends. Martha, with her trademark smile that sparkled across her face, will be sorely missed. She was preceded in death by her parents and one brother, Allen Frederick, Oklahoma City. Contributions may be made in the memory of Martha Fitch to the Legacy Academy Endowment Fund, 7201 Central Avenue NW, Albuquerque, NM 87121. Becker-Rabon Funeral Home is handling the arrangements. Online guest book and sympathy cards are available at www.BeckerFuneral.com An online guest book and sympathy cards are available at www.beckerfuneral.com
        Published on: Thu January 29, 2015