Ross-Fayette County OhArchives Obituaries.....Comer, Martha M. (Denner) October 1984 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/oh/ohfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Ralph W. Cokonougher rcokon@hotmail.com February 14, 2006, 2:33 pm From page 8 of the 24 Oct. 1984 issue of the Greenfield, Ohio "Greenfield Daily Times": COMER. Martha M. Comer, 86, of 1585 Wisecup Hill Rd., Lyndon (Ross County), died Tuesday at 1:15 p.m. in Greenfield Area Medical Center. Born Sept. 15, 1898 in Fayette County, she was the daughter of Samuel and Hattie Goldsberry Denner. A member of the Lattaville United Methodist Church, Mrs. Comer was preceded in death by her husband, Ora M. Comer, on April 29, 1984; by a son, James Comer, on June 13, 1944; by one great-grandson, two brothers and one sister. She is survived by a son, Harold Comer of Lyndon; two daughters, Mrs. Robert (Bernice) Hiles of Greenfield and Mrs. Delbert (Omalee) Dawes of Springboro; nine grandchildren; 13 great-grandchildren and one brother, Marion Denner of Chillicothe. Funeral service will be held Friday at 2 p.m. in Murray's Funeral Home with Rev. Norman Beckwith officiating. Burial will be in South Salem Cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home after 4 p.m. Thursday. Additional Comments: Martha's nickname was "Mattie". She and her husband, Ora, lived most of their lives, most of my father's lifetime, and most of my lifetime, in an old stone house on Wisecup Hill in Buckskin Township of Ross County, Ohio. Their farm was next door to the Cokonougher farm. I remember my father telling me that Mattie and Ora had a friendly, but heated, running battle about snakes. Ora, a farmer, liked snakes. Mattie hated and feared them. The snakes were great rat and mice exterminators, so Ora made a habit of catching the non-poisoness snakes and turning them loose, not only in his corncribs, but also in the attic of his two-story stone house. He knew Mattie didn't like snakes so he never told her when he put one in the attic. As sure as water flows downhill, the snakes would eventually find their way to the lower floors, and a very upset Mattie would soon find herself staring into the face of a big, old, scary blacksnake, or some other ratsnake. Down would go the hoe or broom handle and soon the body of a dead snake would go flying out the back door. From what my father told me, when Ora would get home from work, he would receive a major piece of Mattie's mind, and soon wonder if he was going to be flying out the backdoor too Still, he never ceased putting snakes in the attic, and Mattie never ceased killing them on sight. I, myself, experienced Ora's love of snakes one summer when I was a teenage boy working for him, helping him put in the summer's hay crop. While in the hay field, I saw a large blacksnake. It appeared to be about 10 feet long, and looked very fearsome to me. I picked up a stick, and in my youthful ignorance, I killed the snake. I was proud of my accomplishment, until my father explained to me how Ora felt about snakes, and that Ora had went out of his way that very day to especially avoid killing that particular snake. Ora had found the snake laying on top of a hay row, and had halted all work and the forward movement of the tractor and haybailer until the snake had moved out of the right-away. I felt really bad about what I had done, especially when I saw how bad Ora felt about the death of the snake. It seemed to me as if he was fighting back tears. Still, Ora never said a harsh word to me about the snake, and he was a friend until the end of his days. And I never looked at snakes the same way ever again. My family and I visited Mattie and Ora in their home many times. Each time we visited, they always welcomed us with friendship, hospitality, and warmth. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/oh/ross/obits/comer175nob.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/ohfiles/ File size: 4.3 Kb