NANCE, Mrs. Martha Lucress, Beeville Weekly Picayune, 12 Aug 1920, page 10:

Mrs. Mattie Nance, widow of the late D. T. W. Nance, died at her home at Pettus last 
night at 9:20 o'clock and was buried there this afternoon at one o'clock. The Picayune 
will no doubt be furnished with a suitable Obituary next week.

19 August 1920, page 3:
J. R. Sprouse and family returned the latter part of the week from a trip through the west, 
the sudden death of Mrs. Sprouse's mother, Mrs. D. T. W. Nance at Pettus, last week, 
causing them to bring their visit to an end and hurry home. They got to make but one 
stop on the trip, remaining at Long Beach three days. The message announcing Mrs. 
Nance's death overtook them on the train between Los Angeles and Seattle. They had 
meant to see Yellowstone Park for several days.

19 August 1920, page 4:
On the evening of August 11, 1920, just as mother earth was enshrouded with the twilight, 
the death angel on the wings of the unseen glided down into our community and bore 
away to its eternal home, one of our purest and sweetest souls, whose indwelling here 
was in the personage of Mrs. Martha Lucress Nance, wife of the late D. T. W. Nance.

"Why make we moan
For loss that doth enrich us yet,
With upward yearnings of regret?
Bleaker than unmossed stone
Our lives were but for this immortal gain
Of unstilled longing and inspiring pain!
As thrills a long-hushed tone
Live in the viol, so our souls grow fine,
With keen vibrations from the touch divine
Of noble natures gone."

Few possess a nobler nature than did Miss Martha L. Calliham, born April 7, 1884 near 
Bayou Chico, La. She came to Texas with her parents at the age of seven years and 
settled at Irish Creek, DeWitt county. In 1856, the family moved to Papalote, Bee county. 
On Feb. 23, 1865, in the town of Beeville, she was united in marriage to Daniel Thomas 
Witter Nance. To this union were born eleven children, four of whom and her husband 
have preceded her to the great beyond, two children in infancy and Lewis and Earl in 
manhood. The other seven are Joe Nance, Sanderson; Mrs. Emma Ricks, Pecos county; 
Mrs. Annie Sprouse, Beeville; Oscar Nance, Bill Wells; Mrs. Estelle Johnson, McAllen; 
Mrs. May Armistead, Donna; Mrs. Nellie Travland, Beeville.

Several of the above mentioned children were at her bedside when the end came. Mrs. Nance 
had been in declining health for several weeks, but her condition was not alarming until 
the afternoon of the day before death claimed her. She was laid to rest beside her husband 
in the Pettus cemetery Thursday afternoon by many sorrowing relatives and friends. In early 
life the noble character and fine personality of this departed loved one cried out and in 
substance said:

"Tell me my secret soul, O, tell me, Hope and faith,
Is there no resting place from sorrow, sin and death?
Is there no happy spot where mortals may be blessed,
Where grief may find a balm and weariness a rest?
Faith, Hope and Love, best boons to mortal given,
Waved their bright wings and whispered, "Yes, in Heaven."

In response to these noble meditations she gave her young life into the guidance of 
God and became a member of the Methodist church of which she has been a member 
since. Mrs. Nance's sweet Christian life and thoughtful personality has been embodied 
by her children and will continue to flow on to enrich humanity. She was always cheerful 
and ready to "make the world brighter with a smile." Who can estimate the influence 
of such a life? As the sun gladdens the earth with his drifting beams, so are our lives 
brightened and ennobled by hers. The memory of her is like a lingering strain of music 
that mellows all the past into one sweet eternal now. Such a death is only an "ebb of the 
individual rivulet" before the flowing surges of the sea of life, and it may be instrumental 
in dissolving there midst thoughts of others into the soothing waves of an ocean of light.

"Shall we chide the powers that be 
For rendering this decree
Oh, no!
Tis Heaven alone that is given away;
Tis only God may be had for the asking."

So when we think what she has gained by our loss, we can not say that death is an enemy. 
God sends him to release us from our prison of pains, follies, miseries and woes. Then, is
 he an enemy who transplants us from this clime of pain and sorrow into that region where 
all is pure, substantial enduring joy and endless felicity? Death to those who die in the Lord 
is only a gate of gladness, the bright and shining path to paradise; the harbor of eternal day. 
When these frail frames of ours shall have become pulseless, cold and still; and the mildewed 
sepulchre the only home of our mortality, then, Oh messenger of change, unlock the portals 
of the Happy Beyond and let our immortality "recline on the bosom of God."

"Dear bereaved ones, in your anguish 
In this time of grief,
When with sorrow overflowing, 
Your sad souls thirst for relief
Look aloft to Christ, your helper, 
Your Counselor, your dear Friend, 
Who has promised ne'er to leave you, 
But to bless you to the end."

Same issue, page 7, Pettus column:
Joe Nance of Sanderson was called here last week on account of the serious illness and death 
of his mother. Mr. and Mrs. V. T. Johnson of McAllen were called here to be at the bedside of 
Mrs. Johnson's mother, Mrs. Nance.

Oscar Nance and Andy Dilworth of Big Wells attended the funeral of Mr. Nance's mother here 
last week.

Beeville Weekly Picayune, 2 Sep 1920, page 8, Pettus column:

We want to call attention to and correct an error which appeared in the obituary of Mrs. M. L. Nance in 
last week's issue of the Picayune. The date of her birth was given as April 7, 1884, when it should 
have been April 7, 1844.