Martha Kirkland Brigman, 86, joined her beloved husband Johnnie in heaven on Saturday. Her greatest loves were her husband, her four children, her fourteen grandchildren, her four great-grandchildren – and Bluebell ice cream, Law and Order, and her once-a-week hair appointment with Valerie.
Her money-management skills enabled her to serve as Director of Payroll for Huntsville City Schools for many years – and to provide her four children with college educations, glasses, braces, and all of life’s necessities – on a Baptist preacher’s salary. She taught them to laugh often, love unconditionally, listen to their hearts, and to value family above all else. Even when she was sick, she asked questions about each family member individually, checked their Facebook pages constantly, and hung on every detail of the daily lives of those she loved. She absolutely saw the humor in everything, and you never had to wonder what she was thinking.
As the baby of her family, she missed her two sisters Betty and Evelyn every day, and they are most certainly having a good laugh with the rest of the family-gone-before-us at some heavenly table laden with delicious New Orleans-style foods.
While she grew up in New Orleans, she lived in Jacksonville, FL, Coldwater, MS, Tylertown, MS, and Bessemer, AL where her husband pastored churches before retiring to Huntsville. They were faithful members of First Baptist Church of Huntsville for as long as they were able to attend. A life highlight was a trip to the Holy Land.
One of their proudest accomplishments was purchasing their home on Clinton Avenue, after forty years of living in church-owned pastoriums. She said she’d never again have to ask the deacons if she could put a nail hole in the wall. From the sunroom they built, they spent their later years with beloved cat Millie watching the flowers blooming, the birds singing, and the squirrels digging up their plants in the backyard. It is no coincidence that a beautiful cardinal began visiting her every day just outside her window when her hospital bed was moved there.
The family wishes to thank beloved caretaker Erica Graham, nurse Jan Howle, Hospice Family Care and Millennium Nursing and Rehab Center for their tender care in the last months of her life. The family also thanks their dear friends for their support, food, friendship, and love. Anyone wishing to honor her memory and her love for children may make a donation to Boys and Girls Club of North Alabama, 203 Eastside Square, Huntsville, AL 35801.
Martha was preceded in death by her mother and father, Purvis Lee and Lena Almedia Kirkland, her sisters, Evelyn Cook and Betty McRevy, brother-in-law, Jimmy McRevy, brother, Charles Kirkland, sister-in-law, Louise Kirkland, and brother, Paul “Sonny” Kirkland. Survivors include her four children, Rebecca McDowell (David), Julie Moreau (Jimmie), Susan Siniard (Tommy) and John Brigman; fourteen grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; brother-in-law Norman Cook; and many adoring nieces and nephews.
Visitation will be from 12:00 noon to 1 p.m. on Monday, November 26 at Laughlin Service Funeral Home, with the funeral service immediately following in the chapel. Burial will follow in Maple Hill Cemetery.
