Elizabeth Cunningham Marti
1919-2012
Fort Collins, Colorado

Elizabeth Cunningham Marti passed away August 23, 2012, in Ft. Collins, Colorado. She was 93 years old. Mrs. Marti was born June 11, 1919 in Tarkio, Missouri, to Mabel Low Cunningham and Harry D. Cunningham. She grew up in Tarkio, graduating from Tarkio High School and Tarkio College. In 1941 she married Carl Darrell Marti, also of Tarkio. She travelled with Darrell during World War II as he earned his pilot’s wings in the United States Army Air Corp and served as a trainer of other pilots, notably in Warrensburg, Missouri, where their son, Carl Darrell, Jr., was born. Following the war they returned to Tarkio where Darrell worked in his father’s plumbing business and then became Postmaster for Tarkio.

In 1947 their daughter, Janet, was born. Elizabeth was an active and vigorous woman into the last decade of her life. She worked as a teller at Farmers and Valley Bank, then as secretary to the Dean of Students at Tarkio College and as secretary for the athletic department at Tarkio College. Both of her children earned degrees at Tarkio College and earned advanced degrees at Colorado State University in Ft. Collins, Colorado.

Many who knew Elizabeth and Darrell assumed they would retire to a relaxed life in Tarkio, but after they both retired they bought a travel trailer and traveled for fifteen years, most frequently to summers in Canada and winters in Arizona, Texas, and Mexico. They adapted to that adventurous retirement quickly and with relish. In time, they settled in Tucson, Arizona, where Darrell died in 2000. In 2003 Elizabeth moved to Ft. Collins, Colorado, near her daughter, Janet.

Elizabeth was a member of Chapter FF, PEO, in Tarkio for over sixty years. She pursued many activities, most particularly bowling, golf, hiking, fishing, and entertaining friends. She bowled in the Senior Olympics for several year while living in Tucson. Elizabeth will be remembered as a highly intelligent, outspoken, and often blunt personality, loyal to friends and family, with an excellent sense of humor, honest, and entertaining.

Mrs. Marti is survived by her daughter, Janet Marti Cook, of Ft. Collins, her daughter- in- law, Margaret Shields Marti, of Santa Fe, New Mexico, grandchildren Carl Nathan Marti (Caroline) of Austin, Texas, and Mitchell Shields Marti, of Santa Fe, New Mexico, and by twin great grandchildren Eleanor Rose and Carl Mason Marti and several nieces and nephews.. Mrs. Marti was preceded in death by her husband, Darrell, her son Carl, sister Martha McCall, brothers Don Cunningham and Preston Cunningham and one niece and nephew.

Elizabeth Cunningham Marti embraced life as she found it and left the world a better place for her being in it and contributing throughout her lifetime.

Graveside Memorial Service and Inurnment: 10:00 A.M., Saturday, May 25, 2013, Home Cemetery, Tarkio, Missouri.
There is no visitation.
Memorials: Tarkio Alumni Association
Online obituaries and condolences at www.minterfuneralchapels.com
Services: Davis Funeral Home, Tarkio.