Carole Bennett Martin

Carole Bennett Westmoreland Martin was born to Percy and Elsie Westmoreland in Galveston, on Christmas Eve 1945. She grew up in Normangee and graduated high school in 1963. After high school, she went to Sam Houston State University and majored in education. She met the love of her life in 1965 and they married in 1967. She taught school in Houston while Ken finished pharmacy school and then they moved to Gainesville, Texas. Ken was drafted for service in the Vietnam War and Carole, pregnant at the time, moved back to Normangee. When Ken finished his Army service, they moved into the house where she lived for the rest of her life. She began teaching at Normangee in 1980, where she taught for thirty-five years.

Carole impacted the many people she came across, at school, alongside Ken at Walker's Pharmacy, at any one of her boys' or grandkids activities. She had a warm and caring smile and always made people feel like they were important. She was quick to ask about everyone's family, share a memory from her years teaching first grade, or simply listen to someone who needed to talk. She loved and adored Ken, loved Normangee and the history of the town and the people in it, and she loved Jesus. Her calm and gentle demeanor reflected a quiet strength that was immediately recognizable.

Carole never sought positions of influence but seemed to find herself in them because of who she was. She was never afraid to voice an opinion, and always happy to lend a helping hand when she could. Though she never said it, she lived according to Proverbs 3:27, which says that you should not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act. Carole made the effort to follow Paul's words in Thessalonians "...to lead a quiet life...so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders."

Carole is preceded in death by her parents, Percy and Elsie, her older brother Louis Westmoreland, her mother-in-law Lois Martin, and her brother-in-law Alan Ross.

She is survived by her loving husband of fifty-five years, Ken; her son, Kevin Martin of College Station and his wife, Kelli and their son, Kolby; her son, Brian Martin of Fort Worth and his wife, Jena and their sons, Cab, Caden, Solomon and great-grandson, Sekai; and her son, Brad Martin of Dallas and his wife, Amy and their kids, Ellie, Jack, and Annie.

Funeral services honoring Carole's life will be held 2 P.M., Friday, December 9, 2022 at First Baptist Church, Normangee, Texas. Bro. Bob Shirley, pastor of the church, will officiate the service. Committal services will follow in Hopewell Cemetery, Normangee, Texas. A public visitation will take place Thursday, December 8th from 6 P.M. to 8 P.M. at First Baptist Church, Normangee, Texas.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations are kindly requested to Normangee ISD, P.O. Box 219, Normangee, Texas 77871 for the purchase of library books for the elementary school or Rufus Refuge, P.O. Box 1385, Madisonville, Texas 77864 or www.rufusrescue.com to help dogs and cats find a permanent home.

Madisonville Funeral Home, Madisonville, Texas is entrusted with arrangements.