Tragedy Hasn't Stopped Tyler Native From Singing

REJOICE: Martha Welch won the "Songwriter of the Year" and "Song of the Year" awards from the Tennessee Country Music
Alliance in 2007. The Tyler native, who has recorded 10 albums and has three No. 1 songs, according to some charts, said, "My life has been as an ordinary youngster from a poor home. I'm no different from anyone else."

Article by PATRICK BUTLER Religion Writer, Tyler, Texas

When her daddy died in a fiery car wreck on the way to Beaumont, Martha Welch, then 15, said she didn't lose her faith in God. It was 1954 and Martha was the oldest of four children living in a plain, modest home on old Longview Road.

"It was a hard time for us. My daddy and I were very, very close," said the Tyler native on Friday. "I was the last one (in the family) to see him alive.

Times got tough without her father, Aubry.

"Mother worked hard, very hard, just to make it go. I got a job so I could buy my school clothes to go to school."

She said it did not occur to her to be angry at God, though, or to stop attending her Baptist church.

"I was young and, yes, it was a shock," she said, "but I didn't get mad at God. Daddy always loved to have fun, and I'm the same. He knew I loved pecan pies and picnics and would tease me about it all the time just to get me going. That's the kind of house we had." Though she described her early life as an "ordinary youngster in a poor home, life never got her down.

"BEST TIMES"

"I've been a happy person all my life and I love people," she said. "I could walk up to a stranger and hug his neck. I wasn't scared. I've wanted to help people all my life and still do."

The family often gathered around the radio to listen to the Grand Ol' Opry before there was a television in the house. Those were some of the best times, she said.

"I loved music, all of it, any of it," she said. "I went to as many music shows as I could. Afterward, I'd climb into the pecan tree in the front yard and act out the whole show word for word. I did that for years, and Momma would call out, 'why can't you go into the back yard and do that?'"Mrs. Welch's perseverance to stick with God and attend church persisted into her adult years through more tragedy.

"I want to spread the Gospel and the word of God by singing," she said. "People don't always read their Bible and they'll come closer to a song some time because it's easier to understand. If your song is close to the Bible, they've received the message as they would the Bible."

She finally "got mad" at God when her son, age 7, developed terminal Juvenile Diabetes.

"Rusty had the worst kind and rare kind," she said, "and he suffered and died from it. He was my baby, my first-born. When it's your children that hurt, you don't think straight. I got mad at God after he took my son and it took a couple of months before I realized that Rusty would be a vegetable if he had survived. God saved him from that."

It was 1967. With four children in the house, Mrs. Welch began to be invited to sing in local churches. She was asked to come again. And then again, she said.

"The next thing I knew I was being booked into places to sing," she said. "I said 'Lord, I can't do this. I have four children at home," and the Lord said, 'you'd better or you're going to regret it if you don't do this.'"

That was 10 albums and 34 years ago.

TOP SPOT

In 2006, Christian Music Perspective put a Martha Welch song, "Just A Cloud in Heaven," in its No. 1 spot. After "some weeks at No. 1," said Dana Meeks of CMP, the song remained in "the top 80 for months."

In 2003, Randy Travis had made the top of the CMP list with "Three Wooden Crosses."

The magazine is published monthly in Williamston, N.C.

But that wasn't the only award that has come her way. In 1999, the Country Gospel Music Guild recognized "Stand on Faith" in its No. 1 spot on her "Where Love is Concerned" album.

In 2007, said Ms. Meeks, CMP again put one of her songs, "Picnic in Heaven," about the people, picnics and pecan pies Martha loved, at No. 1. It's still in the top 10 today.

Mrs. Welch recalled why she wrote "Picnic."

"I didn't go to church that Sunday because I wasn't feeling well," she said, "and I got to thinking about all the church picnics we'd had. I thought how wonderful it would be to hear Daddy again teasing my about pecan pies, and see Mother and Rusty in heaven and all the family and friends we loved and just have a big picnic that didn't end. A picnic everlasting."

The lyrics read, "One Sunday afternoon, with dinner on the ground, the preacher did his sermon, while folks gathered round. The preacher did his job, the blessing was given, I thought nothing could compare with this but a picnic in heaven."

In 2007, she was given a Career Achievement award by the Tennessee Country Music Alliance, according to a statement on its Web site, www.mirandapromtions.net/tcmaawardsshow.htm. The Alliance also recognized "Just A Cloud From Heaven" as its "Song of the Year." Disc jockeys playing the song gave "Cloud"its "People's Choice Award."

HAVE FAITH

Despite the recognition, Mrs. Welch said what matters to her is what "God wants me to do." She's never even thought of trying to sign with a record label. Her albums are mostly distributed by family and friends, and those who know her work. That's just fine with her, she said. "I've just wanted to do what God called me to do, not seek recognition," she said. "I'm very grateful for the recognition because it means people appreciate what you're trying to do for God. But I never wanted to be told (by a label) what I had to do or where to go. I felt God would take care of me and I would write and sing songs."

The songs are to encourage people to trust God, she said. A new song, "If Teardrops Were Diamonds," now appears to be "crossing over" into some Country Music charts, she said.

"My favorite scripture is from Psalms 119:105, 'Your Word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path,'" she said. "It's hard to touch people on the shoulder today and say 'have faith' like folks used to. Now you say, 'Hey, everything is going to be OK. Remember, God is there. All you have to do is call out.' Though you cannot touch him, he can touch you."

God touched Mrs. Welch just before her mother, Dorothy, passed away in 2001; the mother who struggled so hard to provide for her family after the traffic tragedy that claimed her husband more than 45 years earlier.

"Three days before Mother died, the Holy Spirit came into the living room so strongly," said Mrs. Welch," that my husband Travis could feel it. I picked up a pencil and began to write, 'I've come to tell you something that came from God above. Someone would be leaving, someone that I loved.'

"It was an awesome, calming feeling, very soothing and relaxing. He (God) was giving us a sense of well being; 'Don't worry about it, because it will be taken care of. Rejoice, rejoice. Don't cry. All will be well.' I sang that song for my mother in the hospital hours before she died. At the funeral, we didn't cry. We couldn't after that."

The Country Gospel Music Guild, located in Mississippi, has nominated Mrs. Welch for its "Songwriter of the Year" award and "Pioneer" award. The decision will be made in October.

"If I can, I'll go to Mississippi to see what happens," she said. "But I want to be part of what God has called me to be, to get the word out, and say 'call me if you need me. I'm here.'"

To get Martha's Albums, contact her at marthasgwelch@aol.com or call 903-592-4248.