Ms. Martha "Marti" Leslie Shelton's Obituary
Martha “Marti” Leslie Shelton passed away April 19th, 2022, having lived a full life in her 73 years. Marti was born in Prestonsburg, Kentucky to parents, the late Gerald Graham Leslie and Maman Gunnell Leslie on February 17th, 1949. The youngest of four, she was close to her siblings throughout her life, and was preceded in death by her parents and oldest brother and sister. When her beloved father had passed in 1955, Marti grew especially close with her mother and siblings. Marti respected and admired her brothers very much and she loved her sister dearly. She was a very talented person with a wide variety of interests. She loved flowers, able to name most plants. She enjoyed playing cards, playing piano, and writing poetry. An intelligent and witty woman, Marti attended the University of Kentucky and completed her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology at the University of Tennessee in Nashville where she met her husband, Byron Shelton, who passed away in 2016. Marti began her career as a medical transcriptionist, until she had her two beautiful daughters, from which time she was a homemaker and loving mother, teaching her girls in a continuing legacy of education valued in her family. Marti kept her wits throughout her life, enjoying activities such as watching television, going to movies, and doing word searches.
Family was always important to her. She kept close relationships with her family and in her later years, spent all her time with her daughters and grandchildren. Marti lived her sunset years in Florida, enjoying the sunshine and loving to vacation and travel. Marti was especially proud of her grandsons, Charley Frank and Jack, and her granddaughters, Ella and Natalie, and they meant the world to her. Affectionately known as Grandmommy, when asked what makes her the happiest, Marti replied, “My grandchildren: They remind me of my children when they were little.” Marti often reflected on her joyful memories of years ‘at Freda Villa’ when her children were little, so it is a comfort that she is laid to rest at the Nashville National Cemetery, which is immediately in front of this road where Byron and Marti began raising their family.
Preceded in death by her mother and father, Maman and Gerald Leslie, her husband, Byron Ned Shelton, sister Mary Alice Phillips, brother Gerald Graham Leslie, and nephews, ‘Little Dickie’ Leslie, Gerald John Leslie, and cousin, David Banner, she joins them in Heaven.
She is survived by her loving family: daughters, Marla Kissack (Brian) of Hendersonville, TN and Hailey Sonn of Florida; grandsons Charley Frank and Jack Sonn; granddaughters Ella and Natalie Kissack; brother, Dickie Leslie (Mary) of Florida; nieces and nephews, Terri Lou Saunders, Catherine Leslie, Allyson Alvarado, Jerry Leslie, Richard Phillips, and a host of extended family.
A graveside service, following a celebration of life, will be held at the Nashville National Cemetery on Friday, April 29, 2022 where Marti will be laid to rest next to her husband.
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