Martha L. Fore

Born Martha Luella Barnett June 19. 1940 to Rev. Emmett and Eula May Barnett in a one room 109

cabin her father built near Little Rock, Arkansas. She spent most of her childhood with her older sister

Lila in Batesville, Arkansas. Rev Barnett pastored different churches in Arkansas and Kansas for the

Church of God, Cleveland, Tenn. Rev Barnett moved his family to Wichita in the 1950s to work at

Boeing when Marti and sister were teens. She attended Wichita West High School and became a member of the National Thespian Honor Society for playing Dolly Tate in Annie Get Your Gun.

Marti had two children, Michael Lynn born in 1957 and Katherine Luella born in 1961. A strong willed and

highly intelligent woman, Marti endured being a single mother in the 60s, when this was harshly judged

Both children's fathers abandoned the family, yet Marti never abandoned her children. She endured

back surgery to straighten her spine before her daughter was born.

As a child, she learned how to play the piano - always had a guitar or a piano in the home. In the

1960s. Marti sang with a band lead by her husband Robert Kittle and had her own recording stuck

After Robert disappeared, she drove a cab to make ends meet. After discovering her daughter had

severe asthma, she quit working and stayed home for a year. She saved money by making bread, pies,

canned food and preserves. By the late 60s, she was statistician for the juvenile detention center where

they helped with her GED and college: business college and WSU (psychology and criminal justice,

She was the first person in her family to go to college. She also taught adults in WACAPI (Wichita Area

Community Action Program Inc.) to prepare students for their GED.

Marti met Glen Houston Fore, an electrical engineer, in 1972 in Glorietta, New Mexico at a Southern

Baptist retreat center when she received a scholarship from Metropolitan Baptist Church in Wichita.

They were married in December of 1972. Marti and her children moved to Norman, Oklahoma to live

with Glen where she became an emergency operator, dealing with weather emergencies for the

Norman weather center. Marti and Glen stayed together until he passed away in 2005 from liver

transplant complications.

After moving back to Wichita in 1974, she managed Taco Tico in Town East Square, then ran her own

retail store before going to work at Woolco, where she became manager of men's and boy's clothing

dept until Woolco went out of business in early 80's. After leaving Woolco, Marti devoted time to her

church, writing a book on music and running the church's bookstore until her daughter returned from

bible college. Then she and her daughter assisted her father, Rev. Barnett with Sunday church services

at a nursing home for ten years where her parents passed in 1999 at that same nursing home.

She didn't find another long term career position until the late 90s where she was the media and event

scheduling coordinator for Koch Industries until Koch outsourced that department. In 2000, her doctors

found a brain tumor and she quit working after brain surgery. She learned to crochet back in the 70's and

made so many wonderful afghans, clothing and Christmas ornaments over the years. She loved

animals and always had a dog or a cat in the home.

Marti's life was surrounded by health complications including a second back surgery and tragedies like her son's accidental death in 2003, yet she always endured with amazing compassion and strength. She is survived by sister Lila and her family, daughter Katherine, grandchildren and great grandchildren of late son Michael and daughter-in-law Glenda.

A visitation for Martha will be held Friday, September 16, 2022 from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM at Resthaven Mortuary, 11800 West Highway 54, Wichita, KS 67209. A funeral service will occur Saturday, September 17, 2022 from 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM, 11800 West Highway 54, Wichita, KS 67209. A graveside service will occur Saturday, September 17, 2022 from 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM at Resthaven Gardens of Memory, 11800 West Highway 54, Wichita, KS 67209.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.ResthavenMortuary-Cemetery.com for the Fore family.