Karen Lisbeth Anderson Martin

Karen Lisbeth Anderson Martin March 31, 1950 – June 8, 2025 On June 8, 2025, our mother, Karen Lisbeth Anderson Martin, passed away peacefully at the age of 75 with her loving family surrounding her. She was born in Los Angeles, California on March 31, 1950 to parents, Neal Bruce Anderson, and Jacqueline Jane White Anderson. Her early childhood and teen years were spent in Casper, Wyoming and Denver, Colorado. She became a Houstonian in 1965, at age 15, and graduated from high school at The Kinkaid School in 1968. Thereafter, she attended The University of Texas in Austin, graduating with a B.S. in Elementary Education in 1972. She was a member of the Alpha Phi Sorority and made life-long friends with a group of sisters that remained very close after graduation with annual reunions. After graduation from The University of Texas, Mom became an elementary school teacher in Spring Branch ISD. She was selected for teaching cursive handwriting in filmed sessions for TV broadcasts for all SBISD elementary classes district-wide. During those years and thereafter, current, and former SBISD students would stop her in the grocery store and elsewhere, asking: Are you the handwriting lady on Spring Branch school TV; may I have your autograph? She met our father, Harlon Eldridge Martin, Jr., the love of her life, on Labor Day weekend 1975, and they were married a year later in August 1976. Together, they provided a home of unconditional love and a strong foundation for we three children as we grew to adulthood. Mom was a devoted stay-at-home mother during our early formative years. As children and teenagers, she was involved in all our activities -- sports, swim-team, dance, drama -– always showing up for our events, encouraging us without judgement. She allowed our free will to do and be what we wanted. We could always look and find her in the stands, the audience, or on the side-lines and see her approving presence, pride, and support. She modeled for us the role of being an encourager and mentor, as a loving and caring parent and mother. Mom loved kids and being a teacher was her calling. As we children aged a bit, she returned to teaching second-grade girls at The Duchesne Academy. She loved her years at Duchesne and always cherished watching her students grow up to be young ladies. She retired from teaching in 2007. Thereafter, as a long-time active devoted member of Memorial Drive United Methodist Church and the Roots Sunday School Class, she became more involved in its many missions and volunteer related activities, including being a mentor to students at a nearby elementary school, making pillows for hospital patients with the ladies of the Common Thread Circle, and preparing Soup-Mobile sack-lunch meals for distribution to the homeless. She believed that being a Christian meant sharing and extending God’s grace through service to others. People who were fortunate to know Mom will never forget her. She made a lasting impression on her students, their parents, fellow teachers, and so many others. Her beautiful smile and infectious energy in all that she did will continue to inspire others and especially us, her three adult children. Our hearts are full of love and gratitude that God sent her to us. She was a true blessing! With loving appreciation of our mother from we, her three children, and our (spouses): Harlon “Trey” Martin, III (Suzanne), James Martin (Annie), Jacqueline Martin Shumate (William). Mom was blessed with four lovely grandchildren: Blake Martin, Cooper Martin, Luke Shumate, and Thomas “Tom” Shumate, who lovingly called her their Mimi and Kare-Bear. In addition to we, her children and grandchildren, Mom is survived by: her husband of 49 years, Harlon Eldridge Martin, Jr., her mother, Jacqueline White Anderson, and by three brothers and their (spouses), Craig Anderson (Nancy), Scott Anderson (Diana), and Kevin Anderson (Sherri), and her sisters-in-law, Elaine Maxon Anderson, Cheryl Martin Jeffers (Robert), and brother-in-law Malcolm D. Martin (Robin), and her nephews Craig Joseph “CJ” Anderson (Melanie), Keith Anderson (Alexis), Scooter Anderson (Suzanne), Matt Anderson, Brandon Ballard, and her nieces Ellye Anderson Ware (Carter), Emmie Anderson, Katie Anderson, Katie Jeffers Lucas (Cameron) , Brittany Ballard Colip (Matt). She is preceded in death by her father, Neal Bruce Anderson, her brother Neal Bruce Anderson, Jr., her sister-in-law Brenda Martin Ballard, and Harlon’s mother and father. Interment was at Rose Hill Cemetery in Tyler, Texas on June 16, 2025, in a grave adjoining with her mother-in-law, Leota Forsyth Martin, and her father-in-law, Harlon Eldridge Martin, Sr. Her husband, Harlon Eldridge Martin, Jr. will ultimately join with them interred by her side, resting together in eternity. The family wishes to acknowledge the loving care provided during her final two years by: Karen Steward, FNP-C, of Kelsey-Seybold Palliative Care, Heart to Heart Hospice, especially Kimmy England, RN case-manager, and CNA shower-aide Idalia, and of all the staff at the Parkway Place Memory Care Unit, especially CNA daily caregivers Kansas, Xiomara, and Alba. Friends and family are invited to a Celebration of Life and memorial service in the sanctuary at Memorial Drive United Methodist Church, 12955 Memorial Drive, in Houston, Texas 77079 on Monday, July 21,2025 at 2:00 PM, to be officiated by Reverend James McPhail. A visitation and reception among family and friends will be held immediately following the service at the church in the Friendship Court. In lieu of flowers, the family requests charitable contributions to The Caring Forever Foundation of Memorial Drive United Methodist Church, 12955 Memorial Drive, in Houston, Texas 77079. Contributions can be mailed to the church address specifying for The Caring Forever Foundation or made online through the foundation’s website at mdumc.org/cff. Funeral services are provided by Dettling Funeral Home: 14094 Memorial Dr, Houston, TX, (713) 497-2121 dettlingfuneral.com.

Karen Lisbeth Anderson Martin

March 31, 1950 - June 8, 2025