Martha Okken

Martha Mildred (Norris) Okken entered this life on January 21, 1917. She was the second child and oldest daughter of James Lroy Norris and Hester Mildred (Miller) Norris, who gave her ten siblings. Living her teen years during the hardships of the great depression, she determined to do all she could to make something of her life. She graduated from Winimac (Indiana) High School in 1935, and moved to Indianapolis, Indiana two years later. There she applied and was accepted to Indiana/Purdue University at Indianapolis (IUPUI) to further her education toward becoming an English teacher. Because of the economy, she never was able to attend college, but worked as a maid and housekeeper. Just before and during World War II, she worked for Sears, Roebuck and Co., L.S. Ayers and Co., Meyer Electric and Karpecks Rubber Manufacturing where she became a lab technician.
On July 22, 1949, she was married to Harry Kenneth Okken of Woonsocket, South Dakota. She has one daughter, Rebecca Anne (Okken) Chambers of Speedway, Indiana, born December 21, 1951 and a son, Kenneth Daniel Okken of Beebe, Arkansas, born December 21, 1954.
She worked for the Indianapolis Public Schools for sixteen years before retiring in 1987 from the workforce.
Her spiritual journey began at the age of 22 in 1939 when her parents, living in Francisville, Indiana, 100 miles North of Indianapolis, asked her to come and attend a tent revival by a Bro. Duncan who was of the Apostolic Pentecostal faith. Her mother, upon hearing the oneness truth of the Godhead and the salvation message of Acts 2:38, had gone home, laid on her bed and searched the scriptures. She asked God if the message of that day was still good for today, would He giver her the same experience. She almost immediately started speaking in tongues and "dancing" while laying upon the bed. Martha listened to the minister and went back to Indy where she attended Oak Hill Tabernacle and there received the Holy Ghost just weeks later. Later she attended the Bible Church under Pastor James Simison where she and her husband were married.
She is preceded in death by her parents, a brother, James Elroy Norris, a brother, Robert Kenneth Norris, a brother, Sterling Blaine Norris, a brother, Allen Norris, a sister, Juanita Stevenson, a sister, Glenna Norris, and her husband.
She is survived by a brother, Arlo Norris, a sister, Ava Naomi (Lee) Norris, a brother, Ben E. Norris, a sister, Hazel Vera Norris, her daughter, her son, six grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. The Lord saw fit to call her home on December 6, 2009, at the age of 92 years, 10 months and 15 days.
Funeral was Wednesday, December 9, 2009, at Westbrook Funeral Home. Burial was in Antioch Cemetery.