Martha Markle

MARKLE (Carden),

Martha Ann

Martha Carden Markle went to be with her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, on July 9, 2025. The oldest daughter of Solomon McCofin Carden, Jr., and Esther Wright Carden, Martha was born in Cedartown, Georgia in 1939. She graduated from Toccoa Falls Institute in 1957 where she met the love of her life, David Markle. Martha graduated from Georgia Baptist School of Nursing and became an R.N. She later attended Piedmont College and Agnes Scott College as well.

A Southern girl, Martha was swept off her feet by the smooth-talking Long Islander and she and David married in 1963. Like her Biblical heroine, Ruth, Martha pledged to follow David wherever he went, but after just one winter in Syracuse, New York, where David was completing his medical training, she insisted that they return south. They ultimately settled in South Cobb when David joined the staff of the newly opened Cobb General Hospital in 1969. There, they raised their four children, Todd, Amy, Scott and Reid, together with the occasional itinerant extended family member, exchange students and a menagerie of dogs, stray cats and even an owl and possum.

Martha was a devoted wife and homemaker who, with quiet determination, sought excellence in all that she did. When she was not shuttling kids to their various practices, she enjoyed reading and writing, gardening and socializing with her large circle of friends. She was a longtime member of Southminster Presbyterian Church, where she taught Sunday School, sung in the choir and served on the Session. Although she enjoyed traveling, and did so extensively, she most loved spending time with friends and family at her condominium on St. Simons Island. She particularly enjoyed her "Sisters' Trips" to St. Simons, Highlands or other more exotic locations for the time they afforded her to maintain the strong bonds of love she had with her three sisters.

Although incredibly busy raising four children and in being a surrogate mother to her two youngest sisters after the untimely death of their mother, she still made time to volunteer as a reading coach for children at a local public housing project, to travel multiple times with her husband to war torn areas of Central America on medical mission trips in the 1980s and to provide extensive resettlement support to refugee families from Southeast Asia sponsored by her church in the 1970s.

Martha is survived by her husband of sixty-two years, Dr. David Markle; her son, Todd (Beverly); her daughter, Amy Bradshaw (Robert); her sons, Scott (Elizabeth) and Reid (Tiffany); multiple grandchildren; and her beloved younger sisters, Lois Clark, Mary Carden and Jan Smith.

The family would also like to acknowledge the loving assistance of Martha's caregivers, Grace, Charity, Lucy, Pam and others from Hope and Smile Personal Care. Their dedicated and unselfish service truly made her last months comfortable and pleasant.

The family will hold a memorial service at Marietta Community Church on Wednesday, July 23, 2025 at 11:00 AM with a reception to follow.

Until we meet again thy good and faithful servant.