Submitted by Georgia Gill-Elkins
South Bend Tribune  March 23, 1980 p. 43

Mrs. Martha Jane Kesler

   Mrs. Martha Jane Kesler, 77, of 3319 Northside Blvd., died at 11 a.m. Saturday in her home after a three week illness. She was born on Sept. 4, 1902, in Mentone, Indiana and moved from there in 1930. As Martha Jane Ward, she was married on Sept. 23, 1920, in Mentone to Dewey O. Kesler, who died on Sept. 12, 1965. Surviving are three daughters, Mrs. Willadene McFarland and Miss. Lorraine Kesler, both of South Bend, and Mrs. Sharon Sue Thompson, of Mishawaka; two sons Robert of Pittsburgh, Calif., and Dale of Kinston, N. C.; a brother, Coy Ward; 14 grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.
   Services will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday in the Hollis Palmer Funeral Home, 258 Mishawaka Ave. with Rev. Harry Dale Collier, pastor of the Westminster Presbyterian church, officiating. Burial will be at Fairview Cemetery. Friends may call from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. Monday in the funeral home. Contributions may be made to the American Diabetes Association.