Martha Elizabeth Dye

Martha Elizabeth Dye, 88, of Leesburg, GA, died Tuesday, November 1, 2022 at Lee County Health and Rehab. Her memorial service will be at 11 AM on Tuesday, November 8, 2022 at Porterfield Memorial United Methodist Church. The Rev. Chuck Knight will officiate. Martha’s burial service will be at 1PM on Thursday, November 10, 2022 at Westover Memorial Park, Augusta, GA. The family will receive friends at Kimbrell-Stern on Monday from 6-8 PM. Martha was the first child of Henry Milligan Dye and Dell Walton Dye. She loved Shirley Temple, Scarlett O’Hara, books, and people. She graduated from Tubman High School in Augusta, Georgia, where she was valedictorian. She received a Bachelor’s Degree from Shorter College, a Master’s Degree from the University of Georgia, and a Six Year Degree from Duke University. Martha was a teacher of history and social studies for about 36 years. She taught in Rome, Georgia, before moving to South Georgia where she taught at Albany High School, Deerfield Windsor School, and Lee County High School. Martha Dye was a brilliant Social Studies teacher and a gifted debate coach who used wit, guile, and love to inspire her students to excel. She poured heart, soul, endless weekends, and personal resources into helping her debate team succeed. She helped hundreds of students see greater possibilities for college, career, and life, and she continued to support them in their adult years. Martha Dye served as a debate coach for twenty-four years, completing her last eighteen years at Lee County High School. Her teams in Lee County won sixteen straight region championships, and a total of seven state championships in GHSA AA, and AAA classifications. She was the second person elected as the Georgia All-State Debate Coach of the Year in 1984. She was inducted into the Georgia Forensic Coaches Hall of Fame in 1995. She was also a recipient of the Lee County High School Star Teacher award. In 2011 Martha Dye was honored by the Lee County Chamber of Commerce as recipient of the Partner in Education award. The GHSA now gives an annual award to schools of less than 2,200 students that demonstrate excellence in speech and debate. This award is aptly named the “Martha Dye School of Excellence Award.” She is preceded in death by her brother Henry Dye, Jr., and her nephew Henry Dye, III. Survivors include her sister Sarah (Leonard) Kitchens, a nephew Leonard Kitchens, III and her sister-in-law Patricia K. Dye. Martha was a member of Porterfield Memorial United Methodist Church. Memorial contributions may be made to Porterfield Church, 2200 Dawson Rd., Albany, GA 31707 or the American Heart Association, www.heart.org. The family would like to thank her many friends who so tirelessly assisted her the past year.

Martha Elizabeth Dye

November 6, 1933 - November 1, 2022