MARTHA ANN (STONE) HARDING
was born on July 26, 1931 to Mabel Stone and Roy Stone in Old Union (Union County), Ark., outside of El Dorado. She passed away peacefully on Friday, September 17, 2021 at Baptist Hospital. Martha attended school in Old Union prior to graduating from El Dorado High School. She attended Arkansas State Teachers College in Conway, now the University of Central Arkansas. She majored in Home Economics and she was a proud member of the Delta Zeta sorority. There is an endowed scholarship at UCA that benefits students in her field each year.
At college she met Rush (Buddy) Harding Jr., and they were married upon graduation. She and Buddy taught one year at Barton High School before her long and meaningful career at Clarendon in Monroe County. At Clarendon she taught Home Economics to generations of young women who love her to this day. She was also the school’s Guidance Counselor. Her most difficult job was being the wife of a driven and very successful coach. She was a mother to generations of players. She was the cheerleader sponsor. She attended every game. She supported her husband in his Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame career.
In 1984, she and Buddy moved to Little Rock to be closer to her grandchildren. She worked for her friend, Bonnie Harvey, as a seamstress at BP’s Place. Every life she touched cherished her friendship. She never knew a stranger. “Tootie” lived life with a zeal that few people possess. She was a lifelong member of the Methodist Church.
She is predeceased by both of her parents and her two sisters, Cindy and “Pete.” She is survived by her daughter, Jennifer Lynn (Richard) and her son, Rush Harding Ill (Linda). She has six grandchildren; Erin Elledge Ward, Katie Elledge, Cliff Elledge, Shaylea Harding McKay, Rush Harding, IV and Payne Harding.
She is survived by nine great-grandchildren: Parker, Greyson, Terra, Ava, Elowen, Ruby, Rush V (Five), Wilder, and Mila. She loved her family like no other. She was the matriarch of her family and her grandchildren and great-grandchildren all loved their “Tootie Momma” with a fervent passion.
Memorial services will be Saturday, September 25th at 11 a.m., at the Roller Chenal Funeral Home in West Little Rock. There will be a visitation with the family at 10 a.m., that same morning prior to the memorial service. Memorials can be made to the Martha Harding Endowed Scholarship Fund at the University of Central Arkansas Foundation, UCA Box 4986, Conway, Ark., 72035 or to the First United Methodist Church in Clarendon, Ark., 121 N Third Street, Clarendon, Ark., 72029.