Martha C. Millsaps

Martha Jane Cartwright Millsaps joined her Lord and Savior on September 3, 2025. We rejoice that she is no longer bound by the limits of this earth and is reunited with many friends and family members in Heaven.

Martha/Mom/Grandmom was born on September 22, 1943 in Chattanooga, TN as the fifth and final daughter of Ernest Raymond Cartwright and Hazel Inez Smith Cartwright. Her early years saw her living through many changes in Chattanooga, with the family ultimately moving to a farm in Soddy-Daisy in the 1950s. As the baby girl of the family, she was raised in a home where her father served as a bivocational minister and her mother worked in the knitting mills. Always a meticulous student, she graduated as Valedictorian from Soddy-Daisy High School in 1961 and subsequently enrolled at (what was then) the University of Chattanooga where she started her preparation to become a teacher. Years later, in 2014, she would be inducted into the Soddy-Daisy High School Hall of Fame.

After graduating from UC with her Bachelor's Degree, she started teaching in the Hamilton County School System. Life took her to Murfreesboro in the early 1970s, where she obtained her Master's Degree from Middle Tennessee State University and began a long career as a teacher and administrator in the Rutherford County School System. She started as an English and Latin teacher at Smyrna High School working for Mr. Bud Raikes, and during this time also established her expertise as one of the best yearbook advisors in the state. For many years, Smyrna High School served as her second family and her commitment to her students was second to none.

In the early 1990s, a professional opportunity brought her to Oakland High School where she began as a teacher, and ultimately transitioned from the classroom to the administrative ranks as an Assistant Principal. She also obtained her Ed.S from MTSU during this time. It was these years at Oakland that prepared her for what was one of her greatest sources of pride - to be part of the leadership team that opened Siegel High School. While each member of that administrative team had a special place for her, it was the association with Mr. Kenny Nolan that stayed constant for two decades. They started at Oakland together and their professional partnership at Siegel set the standard for success across the state.

As much as she was an educator, her most treasured role was that of mother and grandmother. She was quick to show anyone the most recent pictures of her grandchildren, and remained intensely devoted to her son, Jarrett, through each stage of her life.

Martha was a member of First Baptist Church of Murfreesboro for five decades. Until her final years, she remained involved with the Grace Sunday School Class and was an active supporter of the church. The family wishes to publicly acknowledge those members of her church and education families who continued to minister to her in each season of her life, as well as the remarkable teams at LifeCare Center of East Ridge and Hearth Hospice for treating her, and the family, with the utmost respect and compassion in her final days and weeks.

She was preceded in death by her parents, and her sisters Wilma Ruth Cartwright Cox and Ernestine Cartwright Kelsay.

She is survived by her son, Jarrett (Leigh Ann) Millsaps, grandchildren Turner and Brooke, her sisters Dorothy Brown of Chattanooga and Julia Wallace of South Carolina, and numerous nieces and nephews.

Visitation will be at Turner Funeral Home on Saturday, September 6, 2025 from 11 am - 1 pm. A service will follow at 1 pm with Rev. Paul Peak officiating.

Interment will follow at Greenwood Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made in her name to First Baptist Church of Murfreesboro (www.fbcmboro.org), or to the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center (https://give.vanderbilthealth.org/give/487612/#!/donation/checkout).

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