Martha Frances Bradford Kidd of Lavonia, 86, died in her home on October 19, 2007.Born July 11, 1921 in Carlton, Georgia, she was the daughter of Phil R. Bradford, Sr. and Nona Rucker Bradford.She attended Carlton schools and Athens Business College. After graduating in December 1941, she moved to Washington, D.C. where she became a "Government Girl", working as a civil servant in the War Department from January of 1941 until after V.E. Day.After working in temporary buildings on what is now the Mall in Washington, she was part of the initial group of War Department employees to relocate into the newly completed Pentagon.After the war's end, she worked as a business secretary in Florida before moving to Lavonia where she worked as a secretary for Lavonia Manufacturing Company.She married Charles Alexander Kidd, Jr. of Lavonia in June of 1950 and spent over twenty years as a homemaker and mother before returning to work for many years as the secretary for the Lavonia First Baptist Church.Throughout her life, she was active in local school, community and civic organizations.She was a life-long Democrat as well as a founding and 50-year member of the Lavonia Thursday Afternoon Bridge Club.
She was preceded in death by her husband, her parents and one brother, Phil R. Bradford, Jr. She is survived by her four sons, David Alexander Kidd and his wife Jane of Athens, Douglas Bradford Kidd and his wife Penley of Atlanta, James Thomas Kidd and his wife Laura of Carbondale, IL, and Charles Philip Kidd of Lavonia, five grandchildren, Frances Elizabeth Kidd Hogan and husband Matt Hogan of Honolulu, HI, David Alexander Kidd, Jr. of Athens, Michael Magill Kidd of Carbondale, IL, Fielding Brewster Kidd of Atlanta, John Alexander Kidd of Atlanta and her best friend of over eighty years, Betty Plesko of Sacramento, CA.
Funeral services will be held Monday, October 22 at 11:00 AM in the chapel of Strickland Funeral Home in Lavonia, with internment following at Lavonia City Cemetery.The family will receive visitors at the funeral home before the services beginning at 10 AM.Pallbearers will be John Beasley, Drew Hill, Jerry Hulsey, Chip Vandiver, Bert Hill and Rusty Sewell.Honorary pallbearers will be members of the Margaret Burrell Sunday School Class and the Lavonia Thursday Afternoon Bridge Club.
Memorial contributions can be made to the Lavonia First Baptist Church Building Fund at P.O. Box 47, Lavonia, GA 30553 and to St. Mary's Hospice Services at P.O. Box 66588, Athens, GA 30604.