Martha Hellen Carroll

Martha Hellen Carroll, age 93, a resident of Independence, Missouri, passed from this life in Independence, Missouri, on August 11, 2025, to be with Christ.
Hellen was born on October 26, 1931, in Springhill, MO. She was the third child of Ralph and Martha Figg. Hellen’s siblings were Dorothy, Daniel (died as an infant), Gene, Sylvia, Mildred, Donna, twins Terry (died as an infant) and Jerry.
Around age 5 or 6 she started helping her father milking cows and it became one of her chores around the farm. Her sisters did the “inside the farm house” work. During the summers walking barefoot was the norm. Hellen and Gene, her brother, would hitch up the horses for use on the farm. Neither child was big enough by themselves to lift the horse collars and reins. Her mother made dresses for her and her sisters with a trundle sewing machine. The children would clean the kerosene lamp chimneys so the home would be bright in the evening after the sun had set.
At age 16 she started working for Pultz’s drug store after school and milked cows when she got home. 1949 saw Hellen graduate from the Hale High School.
She left home to work in Kansas City, Missouri. She worked at a drugstore in this town and started working with Southwestern Bell as a long-distance telephone operator. This job was done for a few years.
In 1951, Hellen married Phil Roberts. She gave birth to her first four children – Ralph, Ed, Bill and Ray. Hellen was a home maker managing the home front, plus working at Southwestern Bell.
Sewing became another of Hellen’s hobbies that she excelled. She took tailoring classes offered at a community center in Kansas City. Sewing shirts for her sons, cutting fabric on the floor with store bought patterns so her sons had new clothes for school. To hone her skills she made shirts, dresses and mittens for young school age children for Mutual Help.
Hellen’s first marriage ended in 1970. After selling her home in Independence, Missouri, she moved to Grand Junction, Colorado. She had said in passing that she felt compelled to go out west. A Church of Christ was located in that city.
Hellen met and married Marvin Carroll in 1970. In the following years her next two sons were born – Daniel and Kenneth. She did go out and visit with people about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This activity continued until being 90 years of age.
She sewed more clothes for herself and did some quilting later in life.
Hellen’s photography bug was active in the early 1950’s with her young sons but may have started in Hale. Through the remainder of her life a camera was never far away when traveling or on the home front. She recorded her life, her family and the places visited on film.
During COVID she moved back to Independence, Missouri, in September 2020.
She is survived by her sons and their families; and siblings Jerry (Marilyn) Figg, Mildred Pahmeyer and in-laws Ruby Figg and Chuck Addleman. She was preceded in death by her parents; three sisters, Dorothy Ellen Westbrook, Donna Marie Addleman, and Sylvia Belle Singleton; brother, Rollo Eugene Figg; and two infant brothers, Daniel Ralph Figg and Terry Gale Figg.
Funeral services will be held at Lindley Funeral Home, Hale, Missouri, on Saturday, August 16, 2025, at 10:30 a.m. A schedule visitation will be held at Lindley Funeral Home, Hale, Missouri, on Saturday, August 16, 2025, one hour prior to the service at 9:30 a.m. until 10:30 a.m. Burial will be held at Hale Cemetery, Hale, Missouri. Online condolences may be made at www.lindleyfuneralhomes.com.
Arrangements are under the direction of Lindley Funeral Home, Hale, Missouri.