MARTHA PAULINE MULLINS
Martha Pauline Mullins was born on September 28, 1912 in Kentucky to Nancy Ellen and Isaac Mullins. She was raised in a large two story, white farmhouse at the end of the road, which was surrounded by pine trees. The family was very religious and were members of the Methodist church. Her father lead the family in daily Bible study and prayer. The Bible was very important to her father as he learned to read from it. Martha remembered that her father said such powerful payers she could almost hear him talk to God. He also set a good example for the family by never smoking or drinking. He was inflicted with colon cancer and became extremely ill. Martha and her mother spent many hours caring for him until he died at the age of 58.
Martha's family always had plenty to eat. They always had many bottles of fruit, vegetables and meat that Martha and her mother canned. Martha was usually a very obedient child. She tells of a time when her mother yelled, "Move, Martha, move" and without asking what or why she moved. Martha was very fortunate that she had moved so quickly because a rattlesnake was near her.
Martha's mother was very strict and taught her to obey and work hard. Although her brothers got to ride horses to school, Martha had to walk the one mile every morning to the one room school house, even when it snowed. Martha was a very good student and graduated from high school.
Because of Martha's parent's strict religious beliefs she was forbidden to attend dances, but she was allowed to go to the movies in town. At the age of sixteen, she met a young man, Clancy James Brown, who lived up the lane from her. He invited her to many church picnics and parties. They soon fell in love and married.
Martha and her husband had two children, Philip Gordon and Mary Ellen. Her husband passed away about ten years later. Martha also lost her only son Philip about one month later. Because she needed to support herself and her young daughter, Martha got a job in a steel mill in Kentucky. This was very difficult work for a widow with a child to support.
Martha's brother, Douglas, who was living in Safford, Arizona wrote and invited her to move there. Since she was all alone and wanted to get away, she and her daughter took a train to Arizona. Martha obtained a job at the state welfare office in Safford as a secretary and worked there for the next 25 years. She was called Pauline by a lot of people, especially at work. She met and married Patrick Atcheson, who died not long after they were married.
Fred Russell was working in the state employment office and had just lost his wife, Ida. Fred and Martha were both lonely so her boss, Joe Wells, introduced them and they were married on April 6, 1957 in Lordsburg, New Mexico. They moved into her home on the Bowie Highway while Fred was building a house on a farm he had purchased in Lebanon, near where he was born. After completing the farm house, they raised cattle and a large garden. They both continued to work until they could retire from their jobs. Martha's mother, Nancy Ellen, came from Kentucky and lived with them until she passed away.
In 1983, Martha became extremely ill and could no longer take care of herself and her husband. Fred, eleven years older, could not care for her either. Martha was admitted to a nursing home. Upon their daughter Elaine's return from a visit to Oregon, she took Martha out of the nursing home and moved her parents to a home near hers in Thatcher, where she cared for them until Fred died in 1993. Martha's daughter Mary Ellen, who lived in Nogales, Arizona, took Martha to a nursing home there following Fred's death.
(Martha was Fred Russell's second wife, and not a direct ancestor. She was taught the principles of the Gospel by her step-daughter Elaine and told Elaine, as well as Elaine's son, John, that she desired to be baptized but did not want to hurt Fred, who was opposed for most of their married life. When Fred decided to become active and go to the temple, Martha was not mentally able to make a decision to be baptized. After she died Elaine performed Martha's work in the Mesa Temple.)