Martha (Woelk) Glick Stefanik

Martha (Woelk) Glick Stefanik was born on Pentecost Sunday, June 8, 1919, to Abraham A. and Anna (Goertz) Woelk on a farm one mile north of Goessel, Kansas, and passed away from natural causes on Wednesday, April 3, 2013, at the age of 93. The fourth of eight children and the first to live to be 90, Martha graduated from Rural Gordon School and went on to attend high school in Goessel. When the family moved to Peabody, Kan., the summer after her sophomore year, Martha entered the work world. She later attained her GED through Big Bend Community College.

While working in Newton, Kan., at the Green Parrot Cafe, she met and married James Marion (Buck) Glick on August 10, 1937. The newlyweds moved to Deerfield, Kansas, where they lived with James’ parents, Gideon Arie and Margaret Elizabeth (Stinson) Glick, until after their son, James Marion Glick, Jr., was born November 10, 1938. Settled into their own home, the family grew with the addition of Elizabeth Anne on June 12, 1940. In April of the following year, the family moved to Washington State where Martha’s older brother had told them there was a job waiting for Buck at a mine in Chelan. That job didn’t materialize, but on May 8, 1941, James went to work for the Bureau of Reclamation at Grand Coulee Dam and the family became lifetime residents of the area. On November 27, 1944, Frances Marie was born at the hospital in Mason City, making their family complete. The marriage ended in divorce in August, 1965, and on July 13, 1969, Martha married Edward Stefanik and moved to the old Cull White home on Peter Dan Creek just north of Elmer City.

Martha worked as a cook in the school cafeteria at Center Elementary from 1951 until the fall of 1958 when she went to work as a window clerk at the Grand Coulee Post Office. She retired from the United States Postal Service on February 22, 1980, and in April 1983, moved to Coulee City where she and Ed were remodeling a home for their retirement years. Her winters were spent in Yuma, Arizona, even after Ed’s passing in 1998. Martha continued to winter in Yuma until 2007 when she could no longer drive, and moved to Senior Manor in Grand Coulee in August of that year. A fall in March of 2011 made 24-hour care a necessity, and Martha became a resident of Coulee Medical Center Long Term Care.

Martha is survived by her son James and his wife Myra of Olympia, daughter Elizabeth and husband Felix Marcolin of Grand Coulee, and daughter Frances Hove of Yakima; grandchildren: Lorena (Douglas) Talley, Olympia, James Marion (Nancy) Glick III, Houma, La., Richard (Brandee) Glick, Sedro Woolley, Felix Andrew (Haseena) Marcolin, Richland, Kerin (Steffen) Ludwig, Pullman, Kathlyn Marcolin, Gilbert, Ariz., Christopher (Vanessa) Marcolin, Oroville, and Holliah Hove, Yakima; step-grandchildren: Brian (Marilyn) Hove, Anchorage, Alaska, and Nancy (Nels) Hawkinson, Shoreline, the children of Fran’s husband, the late Henry Hove; 21 great-grandchildren; 11 step-great-grandchildren; three great-great-grandchildren, and one step-great-great-grandson. She is also survived by sisters: Mary Anne Lockhart, Vancouver, Sue Dahl, Spokane, and Linda (Jack) Henderson, Lancaster, S.C.; sisters-in-law Ruth Stefanik, Port Charlotte, Fla., and Amelia (Clifford) Tombyll, Wrightwood, Calif., and numerous nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents, ex-husband James Glick, husband Edward Stefanik, son-in-law Henry Hove, brothers Menno and Frank, sisters Hulda Holland and Gertrude Hopp, and infant great-grandson, Benjamin Levi Beaty.

As a teenager, Martha was catechised and baptized at Alexanderwohl Mennonite Church, one of the churches founded by German immigrant relatives the previous century when they settled in the Goessel/Newton area in Kansas. While in Yuma, Martha attended Foothills Southern Baptist Church and is a member of Banks Lake Bible Church of Electric City.

At her request, Martha has been cremated, and a memorial service celebrating her life will take place at 11 a.m. on Saturday, July 6, 2013, at Banks Lake Bible Church, followed by a luncheon at the Grand Coulee Senior Center. Anyone wishing to donate in Martha’s memory may do so to the Grand Coulee Dam Area Seniors to be used for everyday expenses.