Roll Call Tribute

Restland Funeral Home and Cemetery obituary
13005 Greenville Avenue
Dallas, TX 75243
469.925.1436

Martha Lou Strother and Edward Clayton Grubbs

Martha Lou Strother, Austin, TX 1935-2018
Edward Clayton Grubbs, Bee Cave, TX 1931-2019

Martha Lou Strother, 83, died on September 12, 2018, in Austin, Texas Her beloved husband, Edward Clayton Grubbs, 88, died on February 9, 2019, in Bee Cave, Texas. A graveside service celebrating both their lives will be held at 1 pm, Saturday, February 23 at Restland Funeral Home and Cemetery, 13005 Greenville Ave, Dallas, (469) 925-1436 with the Rev. Dr. Keith Boone of University Park United Methodist Church officiating.

Martha was born to Luella and Joseph Strother on March 5, 1935. Ed was born to Mary and Harry Grubbs on January 14, 1931. He enlisted in the navy in 1950 and served aboard U.S.S. Bryce Canyon, U. S. S. Tinosa, and U. S. S. Bream. Martha and Ed were married in 1952 and lived in San Diego until Ed was honorably discharged in 1954.

Martha supported Ed as he pursued his education and career as a consulting engineer. He took advantage of the GI Bill and graduated from the University of Texas with a Bachelor’s degree in engineering. He earned his MS from Rolla School of Mines and his Ph.D. from Texas A & M, completing his formal education in 1962.

Ed and Martha moved to Arkansas in 1963 where Ed was a professor of engineering at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. In 1966, they moved to Little Rock and opened Grubbs Consulting Engineers, the only geotechnical engineering firm in Arkansas for many years. The firm prospered over the years and is now Grubbs, Hoskyn, Barton & Wyatt Inc Engineers. Dedicated sailors, Ed and Martha, could be found at Lake Maumelle on windy afternoons where they raced sailboats at the Grand Maumelle Sailing Club. He served as Commodore in 1972.
The entire Grubbs family built many lasting memories and friendships among the sailors there. Along the way, Martha attended college classes when possible until she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy in 1972. In 1975, she graduated from the University of Arkansas Law School and proceeded to pass the bar in Arkansas, Texas, and Missouri. She was a successful insurance defense attorney with the Johnson and Sylvan law firm in Dallas until her retirement.
Ed took a sabbatical from his traditional family life in 1977 and pursued various interests in Texas and Missouri. His journeys brought him home to Arkansas in 1979, and back to Martha in 1997. They were married again on February 14 with Martha’s father officiating and their grandchildren as attendants. Ed and Martha continued their separate careers in Little Rock and Dallas until they rejoined their households in Little Rock in 2002.

Early in their grandchildren’s lives, Martha and Ed decided the unique gift they could share with them was the wind in the sails on the ocean. Will Huff, Caitlin Doyle, and Anna Jones were students of Martha and Ed for many summers in the exclusive G & G Sailing School with classes held in the Caribbean, the Sea of Cortez, and the Pacific Northwest. Daughters, LouRae Doyle and Linda Huff, were fortunate to be invited as chaperones.

Ed and Martha shared a beautiful love story along with competitive spirits and the souls of pirates. These are the legacies they have passed to their daughters and the grandchildren they adored. This remarkable couple will be missed every day by their family and remembered fondly by the many friends whose lives they touched.