Martha Faye Hess 

Funeral service for Martha Faye Hess will be held at 10:00am, Wednesday, August 19, 2026 at the Alex United Methodist Church, with interment to follow in the Alex Cemetery.

Martha Faye Hess was born on May 5, 1940, on Indian Creek Road in Scott County, Kentucky. She entered the arms of the Lord peacefully on August 15, 2026, at her home in Alex, Oklahoma.

Known as Faye to some and Mrs. Hess to many, she came from generations of staunch Methodists and began her lifetime of learning at age four when she drove her father's tractor in the tobacco fields. Faye taught herself to read sight words when barely school age and was always an exemplary student. She graduated from Scott County High School in 1958 and immediately enrolled at Asbury College, a Methodist university in Wilmore, KY. After obtaining her Bachelor's degree in elementary education with a minor in "Bible", Faye worked as a teacher while earning her Master's degree from Georgetown College in Georgetown, KY.

Faye came to Oklahoma to visit college friends and they introduced her to Frank Hess, who vowed to marry her before they were even introduced. They wed on August 7, 1965, at Salem Methodist Church in Scott County, KY, and made their home in Alex, OK. Faye immediately began her long career as an Alex educator and started her lifelong dedication to the Alex Methodist Church.

She taught 4  ^th  grade, gifted and talented, sponsored the cheerleaders and did whatever asked, but she was best known to generations of Alex students as their beloved 3  ^rd  grade teacher who taught them to write cursive.

In 1966, Faye became a member of Delta Kappa Gamma, an international teacher service sorority, and continued her membership until the time of her death.

Faye retired from Alex Public School in 2000 but retirement did not slow her commitment to her church, her community and learning new things. She mastered her computer and iPad, was known by the local internet service provider as streaming more than anyone else in town and became a die-hard OKC Thunder fan. She lived by the philosophy, "Do all the good you can for all the people you can wherever you can."

Faye was preceded in death by her parents, George and Arvada Stuard; her husband, Frank Hess; her beloved sister, Louise Bell and her brother-in-law, Gerald Bell. Those left to mourn her passing include multiple first cousins in Kentucky, nephews Rick Parsley (Rayne) of Erin Springs, OK, and Larry Parsley (Laurene) of Clay Center, KS, niece Ann Talley of Stillwater, OK, her adult Sunday school class in Alex and a host of friends who cherished her.

It is out of a deep sense of shared community that we in Alex invoke the words of Mr. Carson from the British drama  Downton Abbey, Season 6  : "The business of life is the acquisition of memories. In the end that's all there is." Godspeed, Mrs. Hess.

Arrangements are with McRay Funeral Home.