Martha Bosche

Martha Elizabeth Bosche , 94, of Jonesboro died Sunday Jan. 15th at her home at St. Bernard’s Villa. She and her twin sister Mary were born on Nov. 2, 1922 in Ashland, Mississippi. Martha spent her younger years helping her parents and thirteen other siblings on their farm. She attended high school in Ashland graduating in 1940. With the help of their brothers, she and Mary were able to attend Holmes Junior College near Jackson, MS where they were affectionately known by their classmates and teachers as “the twins.” Upon graduation, Martha returned home to work for the Benton county extension agency. She later moved to Memphis taking a job at the Hospital for Crippled Adults. It was here that she met the love of her life, Benno Bosche. They were subsequently married and Martha moved to Jonesboro, AR to raise her family and help Ben at Jonesboro Laundry and Dry Cleaners, the family business. She spent the next 30 years being a loving mother, wife, and daughter. She was also very active at Blessed Sacrament Church and school, helping with many service projects including the fostering of Vietnamese refugees as well as many years of room mother duties all while traveling frequently to Memphis to help her sisters care for their mother. She was especially fond of visiting the sick and homebound and ministering to their needs. When Ben suffered a stroke in 1975, she cared for him at home for the next ten years while taking over the business and raising her children. She devoted the rest of her life to God, her children, grandchildren, family members and church. Martha’s faith in God was most important to her and was evident to all around her. She “loved people” and often commented on how she was on this earth to be of service to others. She “never met a stranger” and would give to those in need without question. She also had a great love and respect for all of God’s creatures, especially her pets. She was often heard to say she had been blessed every day of her life, and indeed, she was. In addition to her parents, Martha was preceded in death by her husband Benno R. Bosche, two sisters and eleven brothers. Survivors include her daughters Elaine (Phillip) Gillespie of Jonesboro and Celeste (Jerell) Smith of Wichita, KS, her son Gene Bosche of Jonesboro, her twin sister Mary Hoover of Jonesboro, grandchildren Andrew and Rachel Gillespie, Chris (Sarah) Smith of Spartanburg, SC, Allie (Chris) Nicholson of Lawrence, KS, Jill Bosche (Ryan) of Austin, TX, and Emily Bosche.
Funeral Mass with be at 10:00a.m. on Wednesday morning at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church. Interment will follow at Holy Cross Cemetery with all services entrusted with Emerson Funeral Home. Visitation will follow services at Emerson Funeral Home on Wednesday from 12:00-1:30pm. The family requested that you consider the Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church, 614 S Church St., Jonesboro, AR 72401 or Bernards Hospice for lasting memorials, 400 East Street, Jonesboro, AR 72401, in loving memory of Martha Bosche.