Martha Lee Corns Mather King

Martha King passed away peacefully on March 24, 2024, having been a witness to history for almost a century.  She loved reading and traveling, but most of all she loved her two families – the Mathers and the Kings.  

She was born on May 23,1924 in Gate City, Virginia, the third child of Marie (“Reesie”) Batters St. Martin from Baltimore, and Dr. Edwin Meredith Corns. Her father was a country doctor in Scott County, and it was in his Model-T Ford that she often accompanied him as a child when he visited patients. He gave her the job of jumping out of the car to open and close the gates at his patient’s farms so the livestock wouldn’t escape.  Her childhood was during the Depression years when her family’s meals depended on her father’s ability to barter with his patients using their farm meat and produce instead of cash.  As a teen she and her parents moved to a large gray stone and red-roofed house on a hill overlooking the North Fork of the Holston River near the TN-VA state line, where it still stands today.  Her two older brothers, Ed and Jon, drove the three Corns children to school over the hilly country roads to Kingsport.  She graduated from Dobyns-Bennett High School in Kingsport in 1943.  She attended Transylvania College in Lexington, KY.  

After the end of WW2, Martha met her future husband, Charlie.  Kingsport’s Tennessee Eastman was hiring many workers, but housing for all these newcomers was scarce.  Like many people in the community, her parents allowed one of these workers to temporarily board at their home.  This newcomer was far from his native home of Billings, Montana, and his name was Charles Beckman Mather.  With his background in Chemical Engineering, he had been recruited to Oak Ridge, Tennessee during the war to work on the Manhattan Project. Martha and Charlie fell in love and were married in 1946, and they raised two sons, Charles Jr. (Chuck) and Jon.  Charlie eventually rose to the position of Superintendent of the Kodel Fibers Division. Meanwhile Martha spent her days as a mother, homemaker, and volunteer.  She and Charlie were active in St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, where she was a lifelong member.  Martha was a member of the Virginia Club, the Kingsport Junior Book Club, and was a volunteer for the Junior League, the Palmer Center, and the Kingsport Symphony where she chaired the Symphony Ball.  

In 1976 after Charlie’s unexpected death, a new phase of Martha’s life began.  A long-time acquaintance, E. William (“Bill’) King, had also recently lost his spouse. After a one-year courtship, they married in 1977 and Martha became a stepmother to his three grown children, William Jr., Elizabeth (“Libert”), and Mary Armistead. She and Bill enjoyed doubles tennis, sailing in Bill’s sailboat, and traveling.  Upon Bill’s retirement as CEO from Mason-Dixon Truck Lines, Martha and Bill took an extended trip each year.  Her most memorable trips were to China and crossing the Berlin Wall into East Berlin. During their marriage, she and Bill welcomed seven grandchildren into the world. Bill and Martha were members of First Presbyterian Church.  In a coincidence of fate, both of Martha’s marriages to Charlie Mather and Bill King each lasted almost 30 years.  

When Bill passed away in 2006, the next phase in Martha’s long and full life began as a resident of Baysmont (now Asbury) where she enjoyed bridge club and social activities for 15 years.  She is grateful for the kindness and attentiveness of the staff at Asbury, and also at The Blake where she most recently lived.  

She was predeceased by stepdaughter Elizabeth King Brown. Surviving Martha are her two sons and daughters-in-law Charles “Chuck” Mather (Jan) of Kingsport; Jon Mather (M’Liss) of Kingsport; a stepson E. William King, Jr. (Stephen Bicknell)  of Las Vegas, NV; a stepdaughter, Mary Armistead King Sullivan (Mark) of Charlotte, NC;  her 7 grandchildren, Charles Mather, III, of Long Beach, CA; Jessica Mather Krishnappa (Ritesha) of South Orange, NJ; Seth Mather (Jessica) of Lebanon, TN; David Mather (Madeline) of Kingsport, TN; Brian Sullivan (Izzie) of Charlotte, NC; Jordan Sullivan (Kevin Stellijng) of Breckenridge, CO; and Emma Brown Imes (Josh) of Charlotte NC;  her 7 great-grandchildren; her devoted friend from Asbury, Dottie Slaughter; her two nieces Jan Corns Flowers of Tampa, FL and Marty Corns Landeros of Seattle, WA; several step-nieces and nephews from her marriage to Bill King, and their children and grandchildren.

A Memorial Graveside service will be conducted on Saturday, June 29, 2024 at 11:00 a.m. at East Lawn Memorial Park.