Joan Harriett (Hicks) Martin was the fourth of ten children born to Cora Mae Amrine and Robert Clingdon Hicks of Tryon OK.  She was born, June 12, 1934 and passed away June 22, 2026 achieving the age of 92.  

She felt fortunate to be farm raised learning the skills of growing beautiful and bountiful gardens, prosperous cotton, corn, and peanut crops; canning and preserving food for the lean times and winter months; raising livestock and poultry; and caring for the household members of her immediate family.  All of these tasks  were important and crucial having been a child of the depression in a large family. 

She met her husband Jimmie Martin at the young age of 13 and married at 17 on September 1, 1951, while he was serving his country in the Army.  They began life north of Chandler where daughter Deborah was born; they soon moved to Luther to start their own farming operation.  In Luther, their second daughter Priscilla joined the family.   Their farming operation included alfalfa, corn, wheat, barley, and oats along with a growing livestock herd.  This operation migrated to the Arcadia area where they were able to purchase their own piece of heaven on earth.   After 15 years they built a nice home where she was able to enjoy the wonders of running water without having to hand pump and carry it.  They shared 63 + years together. 

Life was good.   She not only maintained a neat home, prepared delicious meals, sewed the majority of the girls clothes, patched and mended overalls and torn shirts, and gardened and wrangled cattle.  She became a proficient tractor and farm machinery operator, most days spending as much time in the fields as did her husband.  She could tell when a bearing was needing attention, adjust the machinery to its utmost operational ability, and haul loads of grain and hay anywhere it was needed.  She was the best square bale maker in the county. 

Never going on vacation and simply working all the time, she experienced joy through sharing her garden bounty with family, friends and neighbors, taking a few minutes to drop a line in her pond, and catching one of the big ones, and always cooking everyone’s favorite dish.  We always teased her about preparing a 14-course meal, each and every Sunday.  Most of all, after retiring from large scale farming, she enjoyed maintaining and mowing her yard.  She mowed right up until Easter this year.   I only hope we can keep it half as neat as did.

She was truly a Wonder Woman before the TV series even thought about the term.  She was also the best grandma ever to Tootsie, Emme, Gabe, Hetty, and Savvy and several other little four-legged members of the family.

She is survived by her daughter Deborah Smith and husband Allen, and daughter Priscilla,  all of Arcadia, OK.  Brothers, Timothy Hicks of Luther, Lewis Hicks of Chester, and Kenneth Hicks and wife Ethel of Tryon.  Hosts of nieces and nephews in Oklahoma, North Carolina, and New Mexico.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Robert and Cora Mae Hicks of Tryon, brothers Robert Hicks of Chandler, Merl Hicks of Chandler, Dale Hicks of Tryon, William Hicks of Tryon.  Sisters Lois Crable of Albuquerque, NM and Gail Ring of Cushing.

Memorial contributions can be made to a charity of your choice. 

A funeral will be held at 11:00 am Thursday, June 25, 2026 in the Lehman Funeral Home chapel with interment following at Pleasant Ridge Cemetery in Chandler. Arrangements are under the direction of Lehman Funeral Home of Wellston.