Martha Boaz Spangler Robison, 1929-2021
IMB Photo
Martha Boaz Spangler Robison, an International Mission Board missionary emeritus who shared the gospel in Nigeria, Liberia and Northern Africa and the Middle East, died Oct. 10, 2021. She was 92.
Robison was born on Aug. 25, 1929, in Murray, Kentucky, to the late Benjamin Brantly Boaz and Allie McMurry Boaz. She completed her nursing degree at the Kentucky Baptist Hospital School of Nursing, Louisville, in 1951. While there, she met and married Oren Robison, then a student at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky.
According to her family, she decided at age seven that she wanted to be a missionary. In 1952, the Foreign Mission Board (now International Mission Board) appointed the Robisons missionaries to Nigeria. There Martha worked as a nurse, home and church worker and Woman’s Missionary Union adviser.
The Robisons relocated in 1969 to Liberia, where they worked at the hostel for missionary children, and Martha worked as nurse and taught literacy and Theological Education by Extension. Martha and Oren also served as missionaries with the Navajo Indians in the United States between 1979 and 1983.
Oren died in 1991 just weeks before their 40th wedding anniversary. Following his death, Martha volunteered with local medical organizations and served as a medical missions volunteer in Northern Africa and the Middle East.
In 1997, she married Dr. Harold Spangler. Martha enjoyed managing the Spangler Bed and Breakfast in Meadows of Dan, Virginia, as well as traveling overseas with her husband before retiring to Greensboro, North Carolina. Spangler died in 2019.
Martha is survived by her children Alan Robison (Leslie) and Leta Robison Kajut; her stepchildren, Beth Spangler Briggs, David Spangler (Carly), Jane Spangler and Ann Spangler Vernon (Jerry); and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
A memorial service was held Oct. 30, 2021, at First Baptist Church, Greensboro.
Donations in her memory may be made to the International Mission Board, 3806 Monument Avenue, Richmond, VA 23230, or online at Generosity Resource Center – IMB Generosity
Read an obituary here.