Martha Baum Sikes Carlton, age 85, died peacefully in Nashville, Tennessee, on July 1, 2025.
Martha was born in Opelika, Alabama to the late Col. John Pinson Baum, and Martha Bowen Baum of Milledgeville, Georgia. Martha attended Sweet Briar College in Amherst County, Virginia, completed a master’s degree in education from the University of Southern California, and was in the inaugural entering class of Georgia State University School of Law in Atlanta. She was a member of the bar of the State of Georgia.
Martha’s first love professionally was teaching. She called upon years of language study and travel growing up and taught French, Spanish, and English, first at Paul Revere Junior High School in Pacific Palisades, California. Later, she taught at Piedmont College in Demorest, Georgia and then at Habersham Central High School in Mt. Airy, Georgia. She loved her students and kept up with several of them for the rest of her life.
In mid-life, she changed careers and became an attorney. Her first job as an attorney was as a judicial clerk for Judges Jack Gunter and Robert Struble of Georgia’s Mountain Judicial Circuit. Uncertain at first, she grew to enjoy the challenge of being a judicial clerk and was always grateful to her two mentors for their wisdom. Later, she became associated with, and eventually joined, the Toccoa, Georgia law firm of McClure, Ramsay, & Dickerson, LLP, specializing in representing Georgia’s Department of Family & Children’s Services in child abuse cases. She was never flashy in legal practice, and instead built a record of success and a reputation for fair dealing based on consistent, thorough preparation.
Much of Martha’s life centered around her family and her journey through three marriages. She was married to her first husband, Thomas Wellington Sikes, for 19 years, and together they had three children: Matthew McArthur Sikes, Suzanne Hope Sikes Thurman, and Kenneth Rivers Sikes. While this chapter of her life concluded, she cherished her role as a mother. Later in life, Martha found happiness with her second husband, Helmut Hartmann of Venice, Florida, who passed away after two years of marriage. She later married Walter Carl Carlton of Ringgold, Georgia, with whom she shared a fulfilling 10 years before his passing.
Music was a constant theme in Martha’s life. After years studying the piano and the organ as a young person, she became the organist for Grace Calvary Episcopal Church in Clarkesville, Georgia. Later, her musical interest evolved to include bluegrass music, and she practiced her banjo and guitar faithfully every night. Her bluegrass interest brought her into contact with many other musicians who became close, cherished friends, including her third husband, Carl. The two of them played and sang in formal and informal ensembles around Florida and Georgia.
In addition to her son Matthew and her daughter Suzanne, Martha leaves two grandchildren whom she adored: Mizuki Juliet Sikes and Julian Kazuki Sikes. She spent as much time as she could with them, whether it was getting snowed in with them as eighteen-month-old twins while Matthew and Rumiko took a much-needed vacation or teaching them to swim as toddlers in her pool in Florida. Even when she was confined to a nursing home late in her life, she burst with pride at hearing them play their musical instruments for her, and spoke about it often to the nurses and other nursing home residents. To her grandchildren, she was “Omama.” Omama loved her grandchildren dearly; they were a true blessing to her.
In addition to her children and grandchildren, Martha’s sisters Mary Anna Baum Vincent and Marjorie Baum Pearsall, and her nieces and nephews Kimberly Baum Cook, John Pinson Baum, III, John Philip Vincent, Robert Vincent, and Mark Vincent, Sarah Pearsall, and Miller Pearsall and their families will cherish Martha’s memory. Martha was predeceased by her parents, her son Kenneth Rivers Sikes, her brother John P. Baum Jr., her nephew Greg Pearsall, her second husband Helmut, and her third husband Carl.
Martha’s family and friends will hold a service to honor Martha’s life at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, July 19, 2025, at Grace Calvary Episcopal Church in Clarkesville, Georgia, with Reverend Michelle Fritch officiating. Following the service, Martha will be laid to rest at Holy Cross Cemetery on New Liberty Road, Clarkesville, Georgia.
The family will receive friends from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., Friday, July 18, 2025, at the Whitfield Funeral Home, North Chapel.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund; Cure Alzheimer’s Fund, 34 Washington St., Suite 230, Wellesley Hills, MA 02481; phone: 781-237-3800; federal tax ID number 52-239-6428.
Arrangements have been entrusted to the Whitfield Funeral Homes & Crematory, North Chapel at 245 Central Avenue, Demorest, Georgia 30535. Telephone: 706-778-1700.
