Martha Humphreys Davenport

Martha Humphreys Davenport

Martha Humphreys Davenport died suddenly and peacefully on June 9, 2014, in her home on Mercer Island. She was 81.

Martha Garretson Humphreys was born August 10, 1932, to Maidion and Irving Humphreys of Lawrence, Massachusetts. Her earliest and happiest memories were of playing and swimming on the beaches of New England and she never lost her love of the ocean. She attended the all-girls Episcopal boarding school, St. Mary’s in the Mountains in Bethlehem, New Hampshire, where she enjoyed skiing and where she got the nickname “Gary” as a freshman (a popular senior had reserved the name Martha).

In 1950, while returning from France on a Greek Line steamship, she met another seasick exchange student, Franklyn J. Davenport, who struck up a conversation with her about L. Frank Baum’s Oz books. They were married in Stonington, Connecticut, in 1953. Martha moved with Frank, who became an aerospace engineer, to Boston, Seattle, Philadelphia, and finally Mercer Island. They had two children, Ann Garretson Davenport and Robert Dalgleish Davenport. Martha and Frank divorced in 1977. Later, Martha met Stephen Graef, a soul mate who enriched the last 13 years of her life with their long talks and adventures throughout the Pacific Northwest.

Martha earned a secretarial certificate from Katherine Gibbs School in 1952, a B.A. in English from the University of Pennsylvania in 1966, an M.A. in English from the University of Washington in 1973, and an M.Ed. from Antioch University in 1991. Martha devoted her life to the teaching of English and was grading papers the night before she died. She held positions at The Baldwin School in Bryn Mawr Pennsylvania, Seattle Central Community College, and, for more than 30 years, Olympic College in Bremerton. As she wrote recently in an autobiography for her students, “Teaching writing is still exciting to me, not so much as a way to make students ‘do it right,’ but because I have learned over these years that writing develops our thinking. As the poet Robert Frost said, ‘to learn to write is to learn to have ideas.’”

Martha inherited a lifelong love of traditional church music from her grandfather, Walter Dalglish, a choirmaster, and she sang in the choir of Emmanuel Episcopal Church, where she met many of her closest friends. She is remembered as a kind, selfless, and generous woman who supported anyone in need.

Martha is survived by her companion, Stephen; her daughter and son-in-law, Ann and Greg Barry; her son and daughter-in-law, Robert Davenport and Sonya Sobieski; and by her granddaughters, Andrea Clare Barry, Laura Renée Barry, and Skyler Irina Davenport.

A memorial for Martha was held on Saturday at Emmanuel Episcopal Church and her ashes are interred at the Memorial Garden there.