Martha Wight

Martha “Mot” Wight, age 95, of Highlands, NC lived a long and happy life.  A native of Sanford, FL, she was preceded in death by her parents Ralph Bouchelle Wight and Lillian Higgins White, one brother, Henry Wight II, one sister, Mary Wight Leffler, and her longtime partner Joyce Hetzel.  Her survivors include her beloved nieces, Mary Lillian Cummings of Clearwater, FL and Lisa Chapman of Lawrenceburg, KY, and her nephews John Wight of Edgewater, FL and Dr. Charles Wight Leffler of New Smyrna Beach, FL.  She is also survived by a passel of great and great-great nieces and nephews.

Mot was a social worker, a writer, and worked for awhile in real estate.  As a writer, she authored two books, one about her paternal Wight family history, which began in the 1620’s in New England, and another about her maternal Higgins family that arrived in Baltimore from Ireland during the potato famine of the 1840’s.  Many descendants of these families became pioneer Floridians in Sanford.

A 1942 graduate of Seminole High School, Mot went on to attend and graduate from the Florida State College for Women (now Florida State University) in Tallahassee where she was a member of Delta Delta Delta sorority.  She loved sports, fishing, boating, poker, pool, card playing and animals, especially golden retrievers, of which she had several.  She was also an avid Scrabble player and a cruciverbalist.  Mot was known affectionately as the “Poet Laureate of Chestnut Hill” and enjoyed meeting with her writers’ group and authoring wonderful short stories.

Mot was a member of the Episcopal Church of the Incarnation in Highlands.  A memorial service will be held at 2:00 pm in the Chapel of the Episcopal Church on Saturday January 18, 2020 officiated, in part, by her dear friend Alan Hetzel.

Online condolences can be left at www.bryantgrantfuneralhome.com

Bryant-Grant Funeral Home & Crematory is serving the Wight family.