Martha "Marty" Raye Nash 1942 - 2016

NASH, PARROT, MEYER

Posted By: Connie Swearingen - volunteer (email)
Date: 6/24/2016 at 03:56:05

Sioux City Journal
14 June 2016

SIOUX CITY | Martha "Marty" Raye Nash, 74, of Sioux City passed away Sunday, June 12, 2016, at Holy Spirit Retirement Home in Sioux City.

The family will be holding visitation followed by a small ceremony at 1 p.m. Wednesday at Reece Funeral Home in Ottumwa, Iowa. The burial will be in Columbia Cemetery, near Eddyville, Iowa. Memorial service will be 10 a.m. Saturday, July 9, at Unitarian Universalist Church in Sioux City. Arrangements in Sioux City are under the direction of Meyer Brothers Colonial Chapel. Please visit her Facebook page by searching Marty Nash and leave us a comment or memory.

Marty was born on Sept. 17, 1942, in Ottumwa, Iowa. She grew up on a farm south of Ottumwa, the only daughter of Nellie Parrot Meyer and Aurie Raymond Meyer. Her isolated environment proved fertile ground for her active imagination, love of learning and thirst for conversation and friendship. She attended high school at Eddyville and then attended the University of Iowa, receiving her bachelor's degree in English.

She met her former husband, Raymond A. Nash, at Unitarian Universalist Church in Iowa City, Iowa. Raymond, a learned intellectual, originated from Haifa, Palestine, further advancing Marty's interests in other cultures, politics and world events. Marty and Raymond were married in 1965. Marty and Raymond had three children, John, Melek and David, raising them in the Quad Cities and Des Moines.

Marty worked for Meredith Corporation, a publishing company, in Des Moines for many years. She retired to Tampa, Fla., in 1986, moved to Tempe, Ariz., circa 1995, to be closer to her son, John, and then moved to Sioux City in 2010 to be closer to her son, David, and his family.

She enjoyed the last few years of her life forming strong bonds with her children, providing her grandchildren a strong-willed, articulate, opinionated grandma to help challenge and expand their minds. She was a true humanitarian and environmentalist and was an ardent supporter of women's rights, gay rights, ethnic equality and religious freedom. She was an artist who successfully sold her paintings, a writer and poet, and an excellent debater/conversationalist who loved discussing politics, current events and books. She was a member of multiple book clubs, writing and poetry groups, and church committees. She loved social media due to the amazing amount of information and different viewpoints she could access. She had always been an active member in the Unitarian Universalist Church wherever she lived - Des Moines, Tampa, Tempe and Sioux City.

Marty is survived by two sons, John Nash of Tempe and David Nash of Sioux City; her daughter, Melek Totah of San Francisco, Calif.; and a daughter and son-in-law, Shelly Nash and Ned Totah. She is survived by five grandchildren, Dannika, Alyssa and Gabriel Nash of Sioux City and Raymond and Rosalie Totah of San Francisco.

Donations in her memory can be made to the Unitarian Universalist Church in Sioux City.