Martha Andrews

1946 - 2024

Martha Andrews

November 19, 1946 - June 18, 2024

Las Cruces, New Mexico - Martha Jo Shipman Andrews passed away in Las Cruces, NM on June 18, 2024. She was 77 years old.

Martha was born in November, 1946 in Kansas City, MO to Kathryn and Joseph Shipman. She was the youngest of three children including sister Susan and brother Jack. She loved music from an early age and was a lifelong pianist. She inherited a love of books, reading, and history from both parents, particularly her father who was the Director of the Linda Hall Library in Kansas City. Her first "job" at age 11 or 12 was to shelve books there.

Martha attended Wellesley College, graduating in 1968 with a degree in Art History. She married Mark Andrews in 1969. Daughter Eliza was born in 1978 and son Jonathan in 1981.

Martha put her Art History degree to use at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC working in the Archives of American Painting from 1972-1985. Her early experience at Linda Hall would serve her well when she went to work as an assistant librarian and later archivist at The Madeira School in McLean, VA. While working at Madeira, she earned a master's degree in Library and Information Sciences from the University of Pittsburgh, graduating in 1999. In 2004, she surprised everyone by moving to Las Cruces, NM to become the archivist at New Mexico State University, where she worked until 2020. She edited two books during her time at NMSU: OUT OF THE SHADOWS: THE WOMEN OF SOUTHERN NEW MEXICO and THE WHOLE DAMNED WORLD: NEW MEXICO AGGIES AT WAR: 1941-1945. She also co-edited two books: HUGH MEGLONE MILTON: A LIFE BEYOND DUTY, and SAGEBRUSH AND SAND DUNES: AN ANTHOLOGY OF SOUTHERN NEW MEXICO HISTORY.

Martha is survived by her children, Jon and Eliza, son-in-law Tom Schoene, nephew Joseph Shipman and his family, and nieces Andrea and Karen Worley. A memorial service will be scheduled for later this year in the Washington, DC area.