Martha Jean Tichy

On Thursday, December 25, 2025, Martha Jean Tichy, nee Nossaman, loving mother, grandmother, and sister passed away at Sodalis assisted living in Texas City, Texas at the age of 93, after a long decline.

Martha was born in Ashland, Kansas on August 3, 1932, to Jean and Larry Nossaman. She grew up in Ashland, and later, in Great Bend, Kansas, where her father found employment during the depression. She graduated from Great Bend High School in 1951 and received a full scholarship to attend Phillips University in Enid Oklahoma. After leaving college, she worked for the telephone company in Great Bend and Topeka. In Topeka she met her future husband, Paul Tichy, of Lansford, Pennsylvania, who was stationed at Forbes Air Force Base with the Air Force. They married in June of 1957 and their first son, Paul was born on Christmas Day, 1958. The couple moved to the east coast soon thereafter, living in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, and Illinois, as their family grew with the addition of David in 1960 and Steven in 1961.

While making a good home for her boys in New Jersey, Martha also sold dental supplies. Then largely through self-study she developed a fulfilling career in healthcare as an electro-encephalogram (EEG) technician. She soon passed her board certification exams and went to work for Barnert Memorial Hospital of Paterson. She soon became adept not only at performing the EEG scans but also in reading and interpreting them. As the family moved westward, she continued her career at Fairview Hospital of Cleveland, Ohio, and then The University of Chicago.

Martha divorced after their children were grown, and so she relocated to Springfield, Massachusetts. In her sixties, Martha relocated to Galveston, Texas to care for her aging mother, who resided in assisted living there. In Galveston she continued her career as an EEG technician, working for the Diagnostic Clinic.

She purchased a lovely old house on Galveston Island, where she enjoyed the climate and the waterfowl a great deal. She made many friends in Galveston and enjoyed the company of her neighbors. She joined the Moody United Methodist Church in Galveston, where she made many friends. Her circle of friends expanded to include several in the Clear Lake area.

She had an acute intelligence once playing as a contestant on Jeopardy after testing at a local mall and enjoyed the companionship of highly educated people. She was a dedicated reader, able to scan a book in only an hour or two and was a life-long expert bird watcher. She had a vivid personality that etched a unique place in the memory of those that knew her.

She is survived by three sons, Paul Tichy of Houston, Texas; David Tichy of Chicago, Illinois; and Steven Tichy of New Lenox, Illinois; her brother George of Clifton, Virginia; three grandchildren, a niece, a nephew, and several cousins. She was preceded in death by her parents and her spouse Paul Tichy, Sr.