Mrs. Martha Wahlberg Eastwood's Obituary
Martha Wahlberg Eastwood of Richardson died August 18, 2023. Born in 1931, Martha began life in the historic Heights neighborhood of Houston. Her parents were the children of Swedish immigrants, her father coming to Texas in a covered wagon. With three siblings at home, an aunt, uncles and cousins next door plus grandparents across the street, she grew up with a lot of love, built in playmates and a daily helping of Swedish American cooking. Time around the breakfast table was a favorite every day. Scrabble was a family pastime complete with intense rivalries which extended outward as her siblings married and moved away.
Martha was pretty from the get-go and most sincerely smart. She graduated from Reagan High School in 1949 and was a bugler in the Redcoats Drum and Bugle Corps. She attended Texas Lutheran College and then business school becoming a stenographer and typist. Her first job was with the FBI. It was daunting and at times more “exciting” than she would have liked. Her first airplane ride was to San Francisco to testify in a trial for which she had taken shorthand of witness testimony.
Her family was and is Lutheran to the core. So was she. Martha loved getting dressed up complete with fantastic hats and gloves for church on Sundays. She liked to look good. It was at Grace Lutheran Church that she met Bob Eastwood. Their first date was in June 1948. They were married May 1, 1953. She worked for the FBI until becoming a mother. She loved being a mom and never looked back.
Martha was a wonderful and loving mother. Both she and Bob encouraged excellence in their children. She embraced life as a career homemaker, great cook, gardener and avid reader. She loved flowers and tended them as if they were gifts from heaven, which they were. She always had one or more books going and kept a list of the books she read. Martha and Bob loved fishing, or more specifically catching. They kept count. They continued to play scrabble until they moved to assisted living in March of this year. Yes, they always kept score. She adored birds. Bob kept the feeders full. She delighted in each new or returning species.
Martha was an expert seamstress and learned crewel embroidery for the kneeler cover project at St. Luke’s Lutheran. She helped design and sew beautiful banners which hang in the chancel. Martha was a quilter and made baby clothes and diapers for Lutheran World Relief. She crocheted slippers for the county hospital.
She was a leader in her women’s circle, sang in the choir, played hand bells, taught scores of children and adults in Sunday School. She also taught Confirmation classes with Bob. Martha led the Booksom Ladies book club and participated faithfully in the prayer chain. She was the quintessential church lady in the best possible ways.
She was dedicated to God, church, family, neighbors, friends and her husband of 70 years, Robert Eugene Eastwood. Her last clear word was his name, Bob.
She was preceded in death by her husband, son Matthew, her brothers Paul Wahlberg (Beverly) the Rev. Dr. Philip Wahlberg Jr., and brother-in-law the Rev. Voigt Kleckley. She is survived by daughters, Emily Eastwood (Jan Bailey) and Sharon Villalpando (Armando), grandchildren Mason, Weston, and Gabrielle Eastwood, her sister Marie Kleckley (Andrea Villareal), her niece Dawn Adams (Benjamin), great nephews Samuel and Justin Adams, sister-in-law Rachel Conrad Wahlberg, many other nieces and nephews as well as her beloved caregiver Abby Haley. She was thankful for the kindred spirits in her life, you know who you are.
Memorials preferred to St. Luke’s Lutheran Church, 1210 W Beltline Rd, Richardson, TX 75080; Lutheran World Relief, PO Box 17061, Baltimore, MD 21297-1061, or Network of Community Ministries, 1500 International Parkway, Suite 300, Richardson, TX 75081.
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