Martha L. Bass
June 23, 1936 - May 29, 2026
On May 29th, Martha L Bass left Evergreen, Colorado for her next big adventure.
Friends and family came by in the days before she died. They laughed, told Martha stories, cried, hug, touched her hand and said good-bye. As the room became quiet and still, she let go and stepped into heaven, eager to meet her Lord and her Charles.
Martha was born in Fort Worth, Texas in 1936 to Robert and Rudene. She was thrilled when her mother told her that the family had enough money for her to attend Baylor University, an opportunity she’d never dreamed would be possible.
A long-time friend of the family told Charles Bass that he needed to meet Martha because she just knew he would fall in luuuhve. He did and she did, and the rest, as they say, is history.
When they married in 1958, they began the first of many trips. Their honeymoon was the drive from Texas to California where Charles attended Golden Gate Baptist Seminary. After graduation, they decided with the Lord’s guidance that Colorado was the place to be. Without a job, they again drove across country and showed up at the Baptist Association asking if they might know of any churches looking for a pastor. And in fact there was a church in Loveland that made the young couple and their soon to be born son, welcome.
Martha’s life from then on was a series of moves and adventures. In 1962 the family moved back to Texas where their daughter was born and they pastored several small churches in Milam and Vidor, Texas. But then they decided that the pay and the medical benefits and the adventures of an Army career were what God was now calling them to.
They served in Fort Sill, OK (1966), Augsburg, Germany (1967-1968), Fort Riley, KS (1968-1969), Fort Worth, TX while he served with the 101st Airborne South Vietnam (1969-1970), Fort Carson, CO (1970-1972), Chaplain School, Fort Hamilton, N.Y., N.Y. (1972-1973), Miesau Army Depot, Germany (1973-1976), Fort Bliss, TX (1976-1980), Fort Greely, AK (1980-1982), Chaplain's School, Fort Monmouth, N.J. (1982-1985).
Retirement took them back to Texas and then back to Colorado. They never quite settled down though, serving as missionaries in Antwerp Belgium for 9 months and taking shorter mission trips to Hungry, China, Turkey, Thailand, India and Mexico. They traveled across the world as tourists, visiting Russia, Scandinavia, England, France, Prague, Austria, Italy, Greece, Egypt, Indonesia, and New Zealand. Martha continued to travel after Charles’ death visiting family in Texas, Georgia, and Massachusetts and taking a cruise from Miami through the Panama Canal to Costa Rica in 2019.
Each trip was a chance to see history, understand a culture, marvel at art and architecture, admire the textiles and folk art, bring back the colorful crafts that filled her home wherever they moved.
Martha started a new career as a children’s librarian in El Paso, TX. She read books to children in Delta Junction and Fort Greeley, Alaska, Long Beach Island, NJ, El Paso TX (again), Canon City and Divide, Colorado. Her last book reading was to the residents of Elk Run Assisted Living who enjoyed Millions of Cats.
Aging was another journey. Charles was diagnosed with terminal lung disease in April 2012 but flunked hospice to live another 18 months. Mother always marveled at how loving and gentle those last 12 months were. She soldiered on, living alone for another nine years, in spite of the physical limitations of a fused ankle joint and the Essential Tremor that drove her to undergo two brain surgeries to implant deep brain stimulation devices.
She consented to visit Elk Run Assisted Living, met old friends, and agreed to put her name on the list for a two room suite. “I’ll move when one comes available.” And when one became available in 2022, she heard the Lord’s command, and dismantled her last home with Charles to make one last move. She sat on the bed that night, cried, and got up the next morning to start making new friends.
Staff and residents became a loving community for her and helped give her joy, and care, and kindness as her world became smaller and her strength declined.
Just a few months before she passed, I was sorting through her mail and started to throw away a brochure about a Mississippi riverboat cruise. She stopped me and asked, “Do you think I could go on that cruise?”
Even a few months shy of her 90th birthday, when moving from the bed to the wheelchair was a struggle, she was still hoping to get one more trip in.
Martha is survived by her son, Daniel and daughter, Elizabeth and their spouses, four grandchildren, two great grandchildren, her brother and his wife, nephews and nieces, and a cascade of friends from around world. She leaves behind loving memories.
Martha’s Celebration of Life
Saturday, July 11 at 2pm
Elk Run Assisted Living
31383 Frost Way
Evergreen, CO 80439