Martha Summers

Martha Summers, who was a lifelong resident of Concord passed away on April 27th at the age of one hundred three.

A funeral service will be held at 2:00 pm, on Saturday May 20, 2023 at St. James Lutheran Church, officiated By Rev. Craig Saltzer. A reception will follow the service in the church parlor.

She was a member of St. James Lutheran Church of Concord her whole life. As a well-known and loved community member, she generously supported the Cabarrus Victims Assistance Network (CVAN) and the St James Lutheran Church homeless outreach ministry (designated as the Cooperative Christian Ministry of Cabarrus County). She was a member of the Coltrane-Harris United Daughters of the Confederacy since 1953 as a granddaughter of a Confederate soldier.

Martha was a preschool teacher at St James Lutheran Church, a secretary at the old Cabarrus County Courthouse which is now the museum on Church Street and Union St. and she worked at the Cabarrus Country Club until she retired. She had many social stories and knew so many people that she could tell you who built your home in Concord and the generation that inhabits it today for most homes built post 1950 in Concord. She was a regular shopper local farms, such as the Bradford Farm, where she preferred to buy her produce and meats. She was an amazing cook which brought family and friends alike to enjoy supper on her porch on Sunday afternoons. She could whip together a fresh peach pie with homemade crust before most people could get one out of a box from the grocery store!

Martha was preceded in death by her husband, James Ervin (J.E.) Summers, in 2006, her eldest son, John Boger Francis in 1984 and most recently her son James Ervin Summers Jr. who passed away on January 1, 2023. She was the second daughter of her parents, Oscar Boger Walter and Ida Lois Walter, both of Concord. All of her siblings preceded her in death: William “Bill” Walter, Mary Haigler (Walter), Laura Louise “Weezie” Treece (Walter), Frances “Frankie” Kolbe (Walter), and Thomas Alexander Walter.

Martha is survived by her granddaughter, Alicia Anne Warner (Francis), and her husband Brian Warner, two great grandsons, Jackson Warner (age 21) and Gage Warner (age 18) of Las Vegas, Nevada. Her great grandsons are fortunate to have had a very long-standing relationship and regular visits with her since they were born. Additional surviving relatives are her granddaughter, Elizabeth Francis; Ellen Baucom (Walter) and her husband Earl Baucom of Massachusetts and their three sons, Drew, Jared and Jonathan Baucom. Martha’s nieces Cindy Kolbe and her sons Elliot and Henry Fantino and Terry Kolbe-Houff all of Virginia and two cousins from her mother’s side Betsy McDonald and Bertie Andrews (McDonald).

Upon reflection of what it means to have lived over 100 years, Martha shared stories with her great grandsons of times that most only read about in history textbooks. She survived two pandemics, two world wars and their economic impacts, bear and bull stock markets, cars that were hand-cranked to witnessing the birth of electric vehicles, space exploration, cultural changes, civil rights movements, women’s rights movements, modern infrastructure marvels and presidents from Woodrow Wilson to Joe Biden! As an involved young democrat from her 20’s, Martha was very active in the Young Democrats committees to teach the importance of politics to the younger generation.

In lieu of flowers, as there is no one to receive them for the duration of their presentation, the family respectfully requests that donations be made to CVAN online at CVAN.org or to St James Lutheran Church at SJNC.net to their homeless outreach as these were closest to her heart.