Jessie West Martin 1917~2008

WEST, MARTIN

Posted By: Mary (email)
Date: 6/26/2008 at 10:15:01

Jessie West Martin
OTTUMWA — Jessie West Martin, 90, died at 9:41 a.m. June 15, 2008, at Hospice House.A lifelong resident of Ottumwa and member of First Christian Church (since 1929), Jessie was born Aug. 25, 1917 to Francis James and Maria Elizabeth (Maggie) Bilterman West at the Ottumwa Hospital.A graduate of the Ottumwa School system, she studied at the Douglas, Washington and Ottumwa High (1935) schools, respectively. For a time in the 1950s she worked in the Wapello County Courthouse, Treasurer’s Office. She was a member of the Ottumwa Women’s Club and Ottumwa Regional Health Center Auxiliary. A member of Iowa Artists, Jessie was a skilled portrait, landscape and still life artist working in pastels, pencil, water-color and especially in oils. A fine example of her portrait work, painted in the 1940s and now residing in the Wapello County Museum, is of longtime Iowa District Court Judge E. K. Daugherty, her father-in-law and children’s grandfather. Her portrait of Hershel C. Loveless was displayed in the Governor’s Mansion during his term. Another portrait, a 1953 Ottumwa High School graduation portrait of Joan O’Hara (married: Hornsby), won “Most Popular” and was judged First Place at the Iowa State Fair. She was also honored from time to time in various regional/local exhibits for her works. Jessie has painted numerous portraits of her children, grandchildren, relatives and friends that have not been on general display but are cherished by their owners. An excellent Maine landscape, painted when she was about 84, illustrated her lifelong devotion and commitment to sustaining her interest and skills in art. In 2001 she realized a lifelong ambition to see, particularly, the Mona Lisa in the Louvre, Paris and the Impressionist Art of artists Van Gogh and Renoir housed in the Museum d’Orsay. Preceding her in death were her parents; her first and second husbands, Daniel K. Daugherty and Bard W. Martin; her sisters, Mary Louisa (West) Parker of Fairfield, Clara (Claire) West Bahme of Dubuque, Francis Henry (Frank) West of Cedar Rapids and Frederick William (Fred) West of Skillman, N.J.Jessie is survived by her daughter, Mary Lynne Weinbeck (Chelmsford, Mass.; husband, Kenneth L.); and by sons, Michael James Daugherty (Iowa City; wife, Dianne Paarman) and Jack Donald Daugherty (Winchester, Mass.; wife, Phyllis Wright). Jessie often said she regarded herself truly blessed with her seven grandchildren, Erin Daugherty Ellis (Mercer Island, Wash.), Sherrill Lynne (Daugherty) Moda (N. Reading, Mass.), Christopher M. Weinbeck (Clyde, N.Y.), Debra Anne Daugherty-Herant (Brookline, Mass.), Wendy Lynne Weinbeck Grenier (Lowell, Mass.), Jennifer Kirsten Weinbeck (Chelmsford, Mass.) and Michael J. Weinbeck (Cambridge, Mass.) and by her 11 “great”- (emphasis hers) grandchildren, all of whom survive her death. As a loving, supporting mother, homemaker, grandmother and “great”-grandmother herself, she will be sorely missed by her surviving relatives.Funeral services will be 10 a.m. Wednesday, July 2, 2008 at Reece Funeral Home with Rev. Gary Sneller officiating. Cremation will follow the services.Visitation will begin at 11 a.m. Tuesday with the family present from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday.In lieu of flowers, memorials have been established to Hospice, 312 E. Alta Vista, Ottumwa, Iowa 52501 or the First Christian Church, 301 W. Second St., Ottumwa, Iowa 52501.Obituary may be viewed at: www.legacy.com/ottumwacourier/Obituaries.asp
Published in the Ottumwa Daily Courier from 6/25/2008 - 6/26/2008.