Mrs. Shelby Keefe Martin died Sunday, Dec. 14, 2008, at her residence at Belmont Gardens. She was a third generation native of Vicksburg. Mrs. Martin was 95.

She was the only child of Edward Eugene Keefe and Margaret Preston Keefe. She attended All Saints’ Episcopal School in Vicksburg and Arlington Hall in Arlington, Va., where she graduated with a major in piano performance. After graduation, she continued her studies locally and at summer workshops conducted by Rudolf Ganz, Tinka Knopf, Ruth Sienczynska and others.

Mrs. Martin was past president of the Matinee Music Club of Vicksburg and of the Music Forum of Jackson, Miss. She was an adjudicator for the National Guild of Piano Teachers and served as local chairman for the Guild. She was on the Pre-College Board of Mississippi Music Teachers Association and served as Vicksburg chairman for the MMTA Pre-College Auditions. She organized and was president of the Vicksburg Piano Teachers Association. She was a charter member of the board of directors of Vicksburg Community Concerts and served for 20 years. She had appeared many times as soloist and accompanist for the Matinee Music Club, operettas and the Little Theatre Productions.

Her memberships included Mississippi Music Teachers Association, Music Teachers National Association, National Guild of Piano Teachers, Music Forum of Jackson, Matinee Music Club of Vicksburg, Vicksburg Community Concert Association patron and Vicksburg Piano Teachers Association.

The Mississippi Music Teachers Association and the National Guild of Piano Teachers certified Mrs. Martin. In November of 2004, the MMTA awarded her honors for a lifetime of service to the music teachers and students of the state of Mississippi. She was listed in Who’s Who of American Women, Personalities of the South and International Who’s Who in Music. She was a former organist and choir director of Holy Trinity Episcopal Church and was a private piano teacher in Vicksburg for 51 years. She had wide experience in teaching all age levels. Many of her students received high honors, and some have gone on to careers in music.

She was preceded in death by her husband, John; son, Barrett Lawrence Booth; and grandson, Laurence Edward Booth.

Survivors are her granddaughter, Elizabeth Booth Johnson, Killingworth, Conn.; a great-granddaughter, Lauren Booth Barrett, Oxford, Conn.; daughter-in-law, Mary Guthrie Booth, Brookfield, Conn.; stepdaughter, Jean Martin Shumate and her husband, Randy, Shreveport, La.; three stepgrandsons, Christopher Leach, Topeka, Kan., Robert Leach of Leesburg, Va., and Scott Leach of Shreveport; and five stepgreat-grandchildren, Shelby, Haley, Heidi, Hilary and Jackson Leach.

Services will be at 2 p.m. Thursday at the Church of the Holy Trinity, Episcopal, with Father Michael Nation, rector, and the Rev. Scott Reiber, pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church, officiating. Burial will be at Cedar Hill Cemetery. Visitation will be from 5 until 7 tonight at Riles Funeral Home and Thursday at the McInnis Parish Hall of the Church of the Holy Trinity, Episcopal, from 1 p.m. until the hour of the service.  

Pallbearers will be Paul Barrett, Kirk Johnson, Dee Cotton, Chris Leach, Scott Leach, Rob Leach, Randy Shumate, David Dabney and Bill Longfellow.

Memorials may be made to the Church of the Holy Trinity, Episcopal, 900 South St., Vicksburg, MS 39180.