Martha Ann Spruell Pipkin, 86, resident of New Albany, passed away peacefully Friday, November 27, 2020 at Magnolia Place Assisted Living Center in New Albany. A Private Family Interment will be in the Forest Hill Cemetery-Midtown in Memphis, TN. Arrangements will be provided by New Albany Funeral & Cremation Care. Martha was born in Russellville, Alabama on August 18, 1934 to Dr. Hugh and Lucille Spruell. She attended Ward Belmont High School in Nashville, TN and received a Bachelor’s degree in Music from Southwestern University (now Rhodes College) in Memphis, TN. In 1954, Martha married Joe Pipkin of Memphis, TN, where she bacame active in the Memphis Opera Guild, the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, the Beethoven Club and the Camarata Club. She founded a fitness program called “Shape Up With Martha” which began in a church basement with a handful of ladies and grew into a national franchise. The “Shape Up With Martha” tv program aired for decades on Memphis Cablevision. She sang soprano for over 20 years in the Grace St. Luke’s Episcopla choir, then for another decade in the Independent Presbyterian Church choir.
Mrs. Pipkin is preceded in death by her husband Joe, her sister Nancy, her brother, Dr. Hugh Spruell, her grandson Trey Jackson and her son, Joe Pipkin, Jr.
She leaves behind one sister, Andrea Kirby, three daughters, Patrice Mason, Stephanie Jackson and Martha Anderson, as well as seven grandchildren and six great grandchildren.
The family requests that memorials be directed to The Beethoven Club of Memphis or Memphis Brooks Museum of Art.
The staff of New Albany Funeral & Cremation Care invites you to share memories with the Pipkin family.
