Martha Curtis

Martha Reece Hall Calhoun Curtis passed away on Thursday, August 28, 2025 at Mercy Health Lourdes at the age of 81.  She was born on October 31, 1943  in Harris, North Carolina and was the fourth child of nine children.  Her parents were Bert Gene Reece and Ethel Carver Reece.  She was preceded in death by her older brother, Donald Wiseman Reece and sister, Marjorie Reece Griffith (Charles) and younger brother, Samuel Gilmer Reece (Donna).  Also, two husbands, Nathaniel Jacob Hall “N.J.” and Orville Earl Calhoun who owned and operated Calhoun’s Custom Speed Shop in Lone Oak and Calhoun Custom Motorsports at 9^th and Broadway in Paducah.
 
Martha worked for the City of Paducah for 5 years as Secretary for Paducah Main Street.  She also became a Kentucky Colonel with Martha Layne Collins was Governor.  She was a member of Lone Oak First Baptist Church.
 
Martha was a country music singer, songwriter, and performer for most of her younger years, performing with two sisters all her teenage years singing mostly bluegrass gospel.  They sang in hundreds of churches throughout South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee.  Their father preached at a lot of them.  The Reece Sisters performed on Saturday morning with Snuffy Jenkins and the Hired Hands on WIS-TV’s “Carolina In The Morning” and had two radio shows on WCAY Radio in Cayce, SC and WBLR Radio in Batesburg, SC.  They also toured with The Porter Wagoner Show and was on his television show when Little Miss Norma Jean was on it.
 
After marriage to N.J. Hall in Leesville, SC, Martha began working as a single and was booked as Martha Hall.  For several years she went with a group of entertainers to entertain the South Carolina National Guardsmen at Fort Stewart, GA, during their summer encampment, with the Redd Reynolds Caravan of Stars show.  She appeared on shows with the Grand Ole Opry Comedian Cousin Wilbur in Greenland, Spain, Germany, and England, as well as several service bases in and all over the United States.
 
Martha eventually moved to Nashville, TN in 1974 and was booked by the Buddy Lee Agency.  She was spotlighted on shows with Hank Williams, Jr. in which she toured through the Carolinas.  She was also on shows with Narvel Felts, Billy Thundercloud, and The Chieftons, The Stoneman Family, Marty Robbins, and many more.  She has traveled through or performed in every state in the US except three.  After moving to Nashville, Martha was asked to join a unique group formed by Buddy Mize, a songwriter and agent for Buddy Lee.  He called it The Nashville Cowboy Love Band.  He wrote plays that included country songs.  The members acted out their part and sang the song that went with it.  They appeared on stage at the War Memorial Auditorium, the Western Room, WSIX-TV’s Barbara Moore Show and Huel Houser’s The Changing Scene on WSM-TN.  Eventually, as fate had it, she was booked at the Old Continental Inn at the Time Out in Paducah before making Paducah her home.
 
After losing her second husband to COPD, she met her third husband, William Murrill Curts, a home builder, and eventually became Mrs. W.M. Curtis. 
 
Her stepchildren are Kelly (Scott) Walker and Phillip (Mary Karen) Curtis, and Robert (Valerie) Calhoun.  She has many nieces and nephews as well as step-grandchildren and step-great grandchildren.
 
Funeral services will be held at 2:00 p.m. Tuesday, September 2, 2025 at Milner & Orr Funeral Home of Paducah with Rev. Bob Martin officiating. Burial will follow at Woodlawn Memorial Gardens.
 
Visitation will begin at 12:00 p.m. on Tuesday at the funeral home.
 
Expressions of sympathy may take the form of contributions to The McGangsters, c/o Lone Oak Animal Clinic, 125 Augusta Ave., Paducah, KY or to Lone Oak First Baptist Church Building Fund, 3601 Lone Oak Road, Paducah, KY 42003.
 
Share a memory or leave a message for the family at www.milnerandorr.com.