Martha Poff

AUBURNDALE -- Mrs. Martha Graham Poff, whose education was interrupted after completing the eighth grade, returned to school at the age of 35, and eventually earned her master's degree. "When I started to school in the first grade in Denham, Ky., Mama started to school in the ninth grade. This was the late 1940s. She and Daddy took a lot of ridicule for a grown person to go to school with kids," said her only child, Brenda Poff Hill of Winter Haven. Mrs. Poff, a retired schoolteacher and writer, died of heart failure Monday (Jan. 12, 2004) at Brandywyne Health Care in Winter Haven. She was 89. Born in Dewitt, Ky., on Aug. 30, 1914, she was one of 12 children who grew up in a small mining community. She began her teaching career in Denham, Ky., and taught in Barbourville, Ky., while obtaining her master's degree from Union College. The family came to Auburndale from Barbourville in 1963 and Mrs. Poff began her career with the Polk County School Board. She taught second grade at Caldwell Elementary and English at Stambaugh Middle School, both in Auburndale. After retiring as a full-time teacher, she continued substitute teaching in Eagle Lake. "She loved school, she loved learning. She enjoyed finding out about something new and she loved to write," Hill said. "She has been an inspiration to a lot of us." Mrs. Poff wrote the "Through the Grapevine" column for the Auburndale Star until 1998 and wrote a book: "I Speak What I Am: Memoirs of a Mountain Hillbilly." She was a member of Union College Alumni Association. She was a lifetime member of the National Quill and Scroll and a member of the Order of the Eastern Star No. 411 in Barbourville. She was a member of First Baptist Church of Auburndale where she was a nursery worker. Mrs. Poff was preceded in death by her husband of 35 years, Hugh T. Poff, in 1970. In addition to her daughter, she is survived by her sister, Celia Jackson, Cincinnati; brother, S.K. Graham, Cincinnati; two grandsons; and one greatgrandson. Visitation will be from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday at Kersey Funeral Home, 108 E. Lake Stella Drive, Auburndale. Services will be at 10 a.m. Thursday at the funeral home chapel. Additional services and burial will be on Saturday in Barbourville, Ky.