Martha Louise Stevens Williams Lanier

It is with great sadness the family of Martha Louise Stevens Williams Lanier, 91, of Patmos, Georgia announces her passing on Sunday September 15th, 2024. We will always carry the memory of her in our hearts. 

Funeral services will be conducted Thursday, September 19, 2024 at 11:00 a.m. at Mathews Funeral Home. Rev. Preston Wilson will officiate. Interment will follow in Patmos Free Will Baptist Church Cemetery.

Mrs. Lanier was born February 22, 1933, in Calhoun County, Georgia to the late William Emmett Stevens Sr. and Vadye Lee Turner Stevens. She was employed with Sears for over 35 years as a clerk, and a member of Milford Baptist Church Leary, Georgia. 

Other than her parents she was preceded in death by her first husband, Ralph Williams, second husband, Russell Lanier, daughter Shirley Piper, and siblings, Emmett Stevens, Jr., Betty Jean Craft, Anne McLendon, and Bobby Stevens, 

Survivors include daughters Linda (David) Williams, Columbus, GA, Sandra (Tye) Slappey, Leesburg, GA, and son Steve (Jan) Williams, Maysville, GA, stepdaughter Jodi Lanier, of Duluth, GA, and stepson Russell Lanier, Jr., Morgan, GA., sisters Dorothy Paul, Edison, GA, Shirley Tsourmas, Oakbrook, IL, Carol (Winton) Fuller, Eatonton, GA, brother Jimmy (Judy) Stevens, Moultrie, GA, and numerous grandchildren, great- grandchildren and great-great-grandchild.

Mrs. Lanier loved her family and getting new pictures of her grandchildren and great grandchildren as they grew and participated in many life adventures. She looked forward to family gatherings and as many family as possible always came to be with her at her home in Patmos on Thanksgiving. She also loved her church, read her bible daily, and attended church faithfully until she was no longer physically able to be there. She believed that "to be absent from the body was to be present with the Lord" and thus is with him today. 

The family will receive friends Thursday, September 19, 2024 from 10:00 am. until the funeral hour at Mathews Funeral Home. 

Pallbearers will be grandsons and nephews. 

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests any donations should go to Milford Baptist Church, Leary, GA in honor of Mrs. Martha Louise Stevens Williams Lanier, 1438 Milford Church Road, Leary, GA, 39862.