Martha Dell “Marti” Moss Eakin Doss, 86, passed away at 2:32 pm Saturday, Oct. 29, 2022, at her Union City home after her fifth battle with cancer. She had recently enjoyed many visits from family and friends.
Visitation will be today from 5 pm until the hour of service at 7 pm Both will be held at Troy First Baptist Church, where she was a member. Brother Rick Roberts wants officiate. The interment at Pleasant Hill Cemetery will be private.
Edmaiston Mosley Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Pallbearers are Jonathan Shepherd, David Taylor, Jeff Rickman, Russell Orr, Thomas Pituch, Chad Foley, Jack Krietman and Scott Sellers.
Born in Union City, on Nov. 6, 1935, to Henry Wade and Wlima Nell Keizer Moss of Rives, she began first grade at the age of four, received both her driver’s license and her pilot’s license the day she turned 16, and graduated from the former Rives High School at the age of 16.
She left the family farm and attended the former Memphis State University, where she became the first student in the then-newly-formed art degree program. While in Memphis, she met Joseph Walter “Joe” Eakin from Fort Smith, Ark. They married in 1956, had three children and then moved to Obion County, where Marti and her mother opened Adelle Studio on Church Street in Union City.
As northwest Tennessee’s primary photographer, she photographed the construction of the former Goodyear plant, hundreds of weddings and pageants, the Obion County Fair and court case evidence for many years. She also put her special talent to work when it came to family portraits and photos of political candidates. Marti served as the executive secretary for the Tennessee Professional Photographers Association for eight years.
Mrs. Eakin, as her students called her, taught several years in the summer migrant program and 33 years at Obion County Central High School, making an impression on students’ lives through art, photography and sociology classes. She received her teaching certificate from the University of Tennessee at Martin while teaching at Central. She was a member of the Tennessee Education Association.
Eight years after Joe passed away, Marti married Elwood Doss Sr. They traveled several times with the senior church group, enjoying the music and the sites.
Marti was always active in the community. She was always busy singing in the church choir, teaching Sunday school, painting sets and baptisteries for churches all over the region, designing and painting sets for Masquerade Theater and serving the local Al-Anon recovery group.
She also served on the welcoming committee for Troy First Baptist Church until she became too ill to attend. An Obion County Museum board member for 40 years, she later became a volunteer at Discovery Park of America, where she loved teaching with Russell Orr and Mary Roberts.
She also loved painting with the children who came to the park, many of whom looked for her on each return visit. She continued teaching privately after her retirement, and her final two protégés are Thomas Pituch and Emily Brown.
She was preceded in death by both husbands; her son, James Randall “Big Randy” Eakin; both brothers, Carson Wade Moss and William Dean Moss; her parents; and her grandparents.
She is survived by her two daughters, Cynthia K. Jackson of Nashville and Polly Brasher of Paducah, Ky.; three stepsons, Tim (Shirley) Doss of Union City, Reverend Elwood (Denise) Doss Jr. of Martin and Jerrel Doss of Harris Station; five grandchildren, Terry Lynn Worrell, Kristina D. Worrell, Jennifer Owen, Cheshire Drageavaere, and grandson and caregiver Skoolarius Drageavaere; seven step-grandchildren, Darren Doss, Chuck Doss, Deborah Doss, Daniel Doss, Tillman Doss, David Doss, and Audrey Doss Gregg, nine great-grandchildren, six stepgreat-grandchildren, and more than 80 foster children, who are all adults now .
Marti had asked that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Obion County Public Library or Troy First Baptist Church. The family thanks you for honoring her wish.
To leave messages of condolence for the family, visit the funeral home website at www.emfuneralhome.com.
Published in The Messenger 11.1.22