Martha Hughes

Martha Anna Hughes, 90 Martha Anna Hughes, former Seminole, Oklahoma resident passed away Sunday, February 28, 2016 at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma at the age of 90. Martha was born March 15, 1925 at home in Northeast Edmond, Oklahoma to parents Dudley Dewitt Ellis and Anna Theresa Ellis. She grew up on a farm during the depression when times were hard. As the oldest child she looked after her younger brothers while her parents tended to the work on the farm. Her chores included gardening, milking, baking and canning. She graduated from Meridian eighth grade, and she attended Pleasant Valley school in Edmond and graduated from Arcadia high school in 1943. After high school, she joined thousands of other girls wanting to help the war effort and became “Rosie the Riveter”. Martha worked at Douglas plant in Midwest City. She was a bucker who worked opposite the riveter as the crew assembled C-47 Skytrain Cargo planes for the war in Japan. Just as soon as the war was over, so were the jobs at the plant. She later worked for the Daily Oklahoma as a proofreader, for the Macklanburg-Duncan plant, and for the City Bus station café. Martha was married to and divorced Bernard Stiles. Together they had one daughter, Anna Sue (Stiles) Austin. Martha later married Lloyd Hughes, they were married for 45 years before Lloyd passed away in 2003.  They resided in many locations including Laverne, Woodward, Maud, Bowlegs, but the majority of their life together was spent in the Seminole area where she has many lifelong friends. Martha was a woman of many gifts and talents, she loved to cook and she was good at it. In the 1960’s, she and Lloyd ran the L & M Café in Bowlegs. Throughout her lifetime, she owned and managed several cafes. Over the years she helped her husband run a bicycle repair shop, a mechanic shop and a number of used goods and swap-shop stores in the Seminole area. For several years during the summer, they would travel from Texas to Wisconsin selling glassware and other goods on the county fair circuit. Martha loved her blended family. Besides Martha’s daughter, Lloyd had three children from a previous marriage who they would guide and support as parents. They were also foster parents to several boys who they loved like their own children and who they kept in touch. Martha is survived by her daughter, Anna Sue Austin of Midwest City; her son, Luther Cauldwell of Oklahoma City; her brother, Woodrow M. Ellis of Edmond; her daughter, Donna Stewart and her husband Wesley of Henderson, Texas; her daughter, Loretta Jean Ronhounde of Amarillo, Texas; grandson, Mark Allen Austin and his wife Christina of Seminole, Oklahoma; granddaughter, Jill Nunnelley of Seminole, Oklahoma; granddaughter, Tonya Wren and her husband, Matt of Mandeville, Louisiana; Dean Hughes and his wife Elaine of Topeka, Kansas; great grandchildren, Patrick Austin and his fiancé Nikki of Seminole, Oklahoma, Steven Austin of Seminole, Oklahoma, Kaylee Grandstaff and Helen Nunnelley both of Seminole, Oklahoma, Brandon McGraw of Tecumseh, Oklahoma, Theron McGraw of Tecumseh, Oklahoma, Haley and Cameron Hughes of Topeka, Kansas; sister-in-law Roberta Ellis of Brookfield, Wisconsin. Along with many nieces, nephews and other relatives and many who loved her and she will be missed by many relatives and friends. Martha was preceded in death by her parents, Dudley and Therersa Ellis; her infant brothers, Kenneth and Walter Ellis; infant sister, Opal Ellis; her husband, Lloyd Hughes and one son, Rex Hughes, Sr.; one brother, Dewitt Ellis; former husband, Bernard Stiles and one sister-in-law, Leigh Ellis.   A Memorial service will be held at 2:00 p.m. Friday March 4, 2016 at Swearingen Funeral Home of Seminole, Oklahoma. Funeral Information: March 4, 2016, 2:00 PM Swearingen Funeral Home Chapel located at 1001 N. Milt Phillips, Seminole, OK 74868