Martha Link

Our mom, Martha (LeMay) Moor Link, met St. Peter at the Pearly gates on March 26 and probably kicked him in the shin. She wasn’t expecting to be on his list until she at least turned 100 and she fell 15 months short.

Part Mother Teresa, part pit bull, Mom outlived two husbands, raised three kids, taught close to 1,000 Kokomo first graders and had friends from four different generations.

Born in Knightstown, Indiana on July 9, 1927, she was a year behind her high school sweetheart, Bill Moor, whom she cheered on as he played varsity basketball in the gym later made famous in the movie, “Hoosiers.” He may have been 6-foot-3 and she 5-foot-1 but they stood on equal ground in their marriage.

When Dad went off to Oklahoma A&M and then into the Navy during the end of World War II, she spent two years at Butler, living in the Pi Beta Phi sorority.

They married back in Knightstown on July 20, 1947, and Mom put her education on hold. In 1949, she took care of Dad, when he was bed-ridden with tuberculosis, and gave birth to their first child, Bill Jr. Tough year, tough gal.

Carol came along two years later in 1951 and then Gary in 1954. By then, Dad had graduated from Purdue and they lived in Crawfordsville and Galesburg, Illinois before settling in Kokomo in 1960. Mom returned to Butler — making that round trip to Indianapolis three days a week — while the family mainly ate pizza, burgers and frozen dinners on those days.

An honor roll student, she received her degree in elementary education and started teaching at Wallace School in 1962, She also served as “the hostess with the mostest” at the family’s cottage on Lake Shafer and occasionally pitched in with the kids at Dad’s side venture, the Burger Chef on the U.S. 31 bypass.

Mom was sometimes called Mighty Martha because she was the one the kids feared most when they misbehaved. Even though she was little more than half the size of Dad, never did she have to utter, “Wait ’til your father gets home.” 

Dad died in 1969 after a three-year battle with cancer and Mom was left with two college kids and another one in high school. She kept the family together even though she often felt obliged to use the mantra, “God knows I tried.” She instilled a positive attitude in all three of us and sometimes pushed us to the point that we swear we had her handprint on the middle of our backs.

In 1974, she married her principal at Wallace, Jack Link, and they celebrated 40 years together. She moved on to Pettit Park Elementary, making lifelong friends with her fellow teachers. She retired at the age of 68.

Often weighing under 110 pounds, Mom still had impressive biceps from going to the gym regularly and working hard throughout her life. She was still walking 5,000 steps a day at the age of 95.

She liked a tidy house, teaching bridge, going to church, doing yoga and staying in touch with her friends. She was famous for her check mix and tapioca pudding. Her happy places were the cottage on Lake Shafer and anywhere where her grandkids were.

She also was a great believer in “You’re only happy as you want to be,” and that’s how she lived her long and impressive life.

Mom is survived by her three children — Bill (Margaret) Moor Jr. of South Bend, Carol Bledsoe of Scottsburg and Gary (Malinda) Moor of Dallas, Texas along with nine grandchildren: Steve (Tammy) Moor of Evansville, Jennifer (Jason) Stabnik of Granger, Tom Moor off Noblesville, Todd (Ashley) Bledsoe of Jeffersonville, Ryan (Erin) Bledsoe of Zionsville, Hailey (Rob) Wichmanowski of Western Springs, Illinois, Drew (Shelby) Moor of Denver, Will Moor of Boston, Leigh Moor of Dallas and 19 great grandchildren who affectionately called her GG. 

She was preceded in death by her parents, Paul and Clara LeMay, her older brother Gerald, her sister Margaret, her son-in-law Phil Bledsoe and her grandson, Jeremy Bledsoe. She is survived by her younger brother Larry and his wife Nancy. 

We would like to thank Hospice’s Guardian Angels, especially, Kathy Vibbert; Mom’s helpful neighbor Phil Bouslog; her longtime teaching buddies Jo Dwyer and Glenda Mann; her recent companion Maggie Bowman and her oldest friend Ann McGee. All of us in our family would also like to thank Mom’s only daughter Carol for giving up a year of her life to take care of Mom.

A funeral service celebrating Martha’s life will be held at 1 pm, Monday, April 6, 2026, at Shirley & Stout Funeral Homes, 1315 W. Lincoln Road, Kokomo. Burial will follow in Sunset Memory Gardens Cemetery. Friends are invited to visit with the family from 11 am until the start of the service on Monday at the funeral home. In lieu of flowers, Mom requested that any donations could be made to the Kokomo Center School Corporation or the American Cancer Society, www.cancer.org. Messages of condolence may be made at www.shirleyandstout.com.

To send flowers to the family, please visit our floral store.