Kokomo, Indiana - Martha Gentry, 91, died at 1:03 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 28, 2021, at Community Howard Regional Health.

She was born Aug. 23, 1930, at Good Samaritan Hospital in Kokomo, the daughter of Jacob F. and Mary V. (Coleman) Neiheisel.

She was baptized and named in honor of her grandmothers.

She married the love of her life, Jack W. Gentry, on Sept. 30, 1950, in a wedding ceremony performed by Father Leo Breitenbach at St. Patrick Catholic Church, in Kokomo.

Jack preceded her in death on Sept. 18, 2005, after 55 years of marriage.

She worked as a secretary and bookkeeper at Kokomo Sanitary Pottery and in later years at Whitacre's Market, Ivy Tech and Dillman Furniture. She was a member of St. Patrick Catholic Church, Altar Rosary Society, Howard County Home Ec Club and Kokomo Al-Anon Groups. Her greatest joy was taking care of her family and grandchildren and spending time with her friends.

She is survived by three sons, Mark (Julie) and Matthew (Pam), of Kokomo, and Tom, of Palm Beach, Florida; four daughters, Mary (Terry) Allen, of Westfield, Ann (Michael) O'Connor, Jane (Scott) Lewis and Beth Cecile Gentry, all of Kokomo; 14 grandchildren, Jeremiah and Nate Clark, Heather Raymond, Mike Crousore, Jim O'Connor, Carly Henderson, Karie Carroll, Katy Lewis, Bryan, Jacob and Danny Foreman, Luke and Jack Gentry and Rachel Dick; 20 great-grandchildren; her beloved sister, Mary Helen Carey; and 26 dearly loved nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents; one son, John Joseph; one brother, Jacob (Jack) Neiheisel; one daughter, Linda Sue Washington; and a grandchild, Clover Carroll.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 1 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 3, 2021, at St. Patrick Catholic Church, 1229 N. Washington St., Kokomo. Burial will follow in Kokomo Memorial Park Cemetery. Friends are invited to visit with the family from 4-7 p.m. Thursday at Shirley & Stout Funeral Home & Crematory, 1315 W. Lincoln Road, Kokomo, where the Rosary will be offered at 7 p.m.

Memorial contributions may be made in Martha's memory to the Monastery of the Poor Clares.

Messages of Condolence may be left online at www.shirleyandstout.com.

"They whom we love and lose are no longer where they were before. They are now wherever we are."

-St. John Chrysostom