Marti Taff

Marti Ta - The Perfect Mate
Martha Anne Collier was born to Samuel and Lillian Collier in Memphis, Tennessee on November 4,1943. She grew up in a happy home with a younger brother, Sam Collier, who along with her parents, who preceded her in death. She has two surviving nieces, Michelle Collier and Ashley Collier Jones live in Memphis, where their brother was murdered in a car-jacking in January, 2024. Things changed for Marti's happy home when her father died while she was just 13, leaving her wonderful mother, Lilly, who neither worked nor drove, to raise alone two wonderful children in a chilling world of unknowns. Marti soon entered Treadwell High School where she thrived. She was very popular and was a cheerleader, and upon graduation Marti was voted Friendliest of the Senior Class. She headed o to college at Martin, Tennessee, but on arrival found her funding was not approved, and went home disappointed. She soon had a job with the Board of Education as a secretary.
When prompted by a friend to interview for a job as stewardess with the airlines, Marti was hired on the spot and headed to stewardess school with American Airlines in July 1964, at the beginning of the Jet Age. It was a perfect match for Marti, with her sense of adventure and love of travel. She was initially based at Dallas Love Field, but later transferred and moved to Nashville, New York City, San Francisco, Washington DC, Los Angeles, and then San Diego by 1972. Marti traveled to several countries in Europe and Asia, and twice to Africa. Her travels later took her to visit her best friend, Jessica, from high school, also then a new flight attendant in Boston. It was an eventful trip, as Marti was introduced to several friends, one of whom was to become her future husband, Tom. It was some time before the distance between Boston and San Diego was overcome, as Tom had transferred to Chicago, and again crossed paths with Marti. A common group of airline friends had gathered for a ski meet in Colorado, and Marti and Tom were soon dating. Tom transferred to Los Angeles, and within a year a wedding was planned for June 6, 1981.
Marti and Tom forged a union that lasted for 44 years after their small wedding at a friend's little beach home, just south of San Diego in Mexico. For two years, the couple lived in Marti's beloved San Diego, and then they transferred to Dallas and made their home in Colleyville, for ten years, where they thought they would raise their children; however, only miscarriages prevailed. Flying careers progressed and life moved on, and soon Marti's friend, Katie, married one of Tom's pilot buddies, Larry Brown, shortly after Marti introduced them. Soon Katie invited Marti and Tom to The Kindred Class at Highland Park Presbyterian Church, over 30 years ago.
Marti and Tom both retired from flying in 2008, but they had forged a strengthening of faith with the church life they both had grown up with. The couple moved to Dallas in 1994 to a run-down old house, built in 1933, and got to work with Marti using her excellent talent, turning it into a wonderful home. In addition to decorating skills, homemaking certainly includes cooking, and wow, she was an excellent cook, with cooking supplanting her love of travel. Marti collected numerous cookbooks, and attended several cooking schools, including one in Italy. It was truly another love for her and one of the favorite photos of her is taken with Marti seated between Julia Child and Jacques Pepin. Marti was dear friends with a professional caterer and learned many tricks and skills, which she loved to share while entertaining her many friends for dinners in their home.
Marti always kept track of her many friends from years past, and recorded their names and contact info in her address book. As we look back, those sweet habits began to slip, but Marti's sweet nature, and love of "going places and doing things", as she said in her last couple of months, never ever changed. She was as sweet as she ever was, despite health issues and a memory that was being gradually erased from her over several years, taking her independence and her past. She dearly loved her home, and was the perfect wife and mate for Tom, who shared so much of their wonderful life together, frequently working together and traveling, and so much more. Together always.
Many ask for something to remember Marti by, and that's easy. It's the sixth beatitude: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." That is Marti, sweet to the very end. As Alzheimer's drained all her strength and memory, Marti was still able to give her husband one last kiss the afternoon before her death. She blessed those present with one last gift, with Tom by her side, as she raised her head, opened her eyes very, very wide, looked up to the ceiling, as the angels came to take her to heaven. Then Marti gently lowered her head, closed her brown eyes, and was gone the evening of October 2, 2025.
A memorial service will be held on Friday, November 7 at 2:00 pm at Highland Park Presbyterian Church - 3821 University, Dallas, Texas. In lieu of flowers, please consider honoring Marti by making a donation to the Alzheimer's Association. To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Marti, please visit our floral store.