Martha Davis

Martha Rita Russell Davis

Our beloved wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister, and friend, Martha Rita Russell Davis, passed peacefully from this life on the evening of September 16, 2026, at the age of 90, surrounded by the love of the family that meant so much to her throughout her life.

Martha and her husband, Jim, built a life centered around family, faith, hard work, generosity, laughter, and love. Together they raised nine children, and over the years their family grew to include 26 grandchildren and 22 great-grandchildren.

It seems fruitless to try to summarize a life of 90 years by listing accomplishments, milestones, events and statistics, so we’ll try to talk about who Martha really was.

Martha was awake. In the movie “Joe Versus the Volcano”, the character Patricia Graynamore says to Joe: “My father says that almost the whole world is asleep. Everybody you know. Everybody you see. Everybody you talk to. He says that only a few people are awake and they live in a state of constant total amazement.” This describes Martha’s life; she was awake in the best possible way. No one could have a conversation with her without hearing at least one of her favorite words – “wonderful”, “perfick”, and “miracle”. She lived her life in a constant state of total – and infectious – amazement. Her friends and family, especially her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, could always count on being seen, heard and valued after spending time with her. Even strangers she met on the street would come away from that encounter with a smile and a spring in their step.

Martha was a strong woman. When she walked anywhere, it didn’t just involve taking a series of steps; she would conquer ground one step at a time. Something about the way she would lean into each step, and her measured, athletic pace, created an aura of power. She summoned this same aura whenever she advocated for her children, expressed her political point of view, or talked about her faith. She imbued her strength into each of her nine children, transforming them from budding felons to productive members of society, sometimes using a flyswatter, an old dishrag or a bar of soap for emphasis. Her daughters have all grown up to be strong, confident, outspoken women.

Martha was a domestic goddess. Her children grew up in a house without a TV, and every evening they would gather around her armchair to hear her read books like “Where the Red Fern Grows”, “Little House on the Prairie”, and “Little Women”. At school, they ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches made with thick slices of homemade wheat bread the color of walnut. On good days they would have delicious whole wheat pancakes the size and thickness of saw blades, topped with homemade syrup, or tasty chicken and rice casserole, or stuffed bell peppers. On bad days it might be liver and canned spinach; she was a Greek domestic goddess. Neighborhood children were always around the house, but around Christmastime they would linger, hoping to get a taste of peanut brittle, frosted sugar cookies, or giant Santa faces made from iced cinnamon bread that she was famous for.

Martha was generous and open-hearted. If you doubt this, just ask Janice Simmons, an elderly lady who had been afflicted with polio as a child and used crutches to get around. Jim and Martha moved her into their old house, and for years Martha provided transportation and assistance for all her needs. Ask the neighborhood children who got rides to and from Primary in rural southern Arizona. Ask the mentally ill people she served as a missionary. Ask the missionaries in the California Los Angeles mission where she served as a secretary. Ask anyone in any neighborhood or congregation she was part of. Ask strangers she met on her walks. Ask her posterity, the spouses of her posterity, or the families of the spouses of her posterity. You’ll get the same answers from them all.

Martha was a participant. If we were to take all the letters and emails Martha has written to newspaper editors, politicians and civic leaders, add transcripts of her personal phone calls to those same people, and bind the whole stack into a book, it would look like the Encyclopedia Brittanica. She worked tirelessly in political causes and church callings, and somehow never caused her children to feel a lack of love or attention.

Martha was a traveler. She loved to visit new places, meet new people, and have new experiences. She never saw differences as barriers to friendship and understanding. Her circumstances didn’t permit her to travel everywhere she wanted to go in the world, and she often expressed that it was her dream to fly around the world after her death and see everything there is to see in humanity and nature.

On September 16th, lying in her bed taking her last breath, Martha embarked on the journey she had long desired. Her family is so happy for her, and we’re so sad for ourselves. We will miss her dearly, and we look forward to the “wonderful” stories she will tell about her “perfick” journey. We will agree with her that life is a “miracle”!

We are especially grateful for those who gave so much of their time during these final months to make it possible for Martha and Jim to remain together at home, particularly their granddaughter Tomarra who stayed there 24x7 to care of them, and for the hospice nurses, chaplain, counselor, and caregivers who treated Martha with compassion and helped the entire family understand and navigate the final part of her mortal journey.

Graveside services will be held at 1:00 p.m., Thursday, September 24, 2026 at the Provo City Cemetery, 610 South State Street, Provo, Utah. The family will receive friends at the Bonneville 1st Ward Chapel, 85 South 900 East, Provo, Utah from 12-12:45 p.m. prior to services at the cemetery. Condolences may be extended online at www.bergmortuary.com.