Martha Richardson Salthouse, age 98, died September 2, 2017 in Salt Lake City, Utah of natural causes incident to age. She was born July 26, 1919, to Henry and Jean Richardson in Salt Lake City. She was the second child of six children. She went through Salt Lake public schools, graduating from the University of Utah in 1939. In 1940, she took a Civil Service job to work for the Department of War in Washington, D.C. In 1942, she transferred to a position at the American Embassy in Ottawa, Canada and in 1944 she transferred to a position at the American Embassy in Paris, France. She met her husband, Wirt Salthouse, who was on active duty in the U.S. Army, at a Paris hotel where they were both billeted. They married in 1945 and returned to the United States when the war was over. For the next 33 years she lived in 20 different places: as a farmer's wife in Colorado before Wirt was called back to active duty in the Army and then various Army bases before Wirt retired in 1965. He then tried various jobs ‚ a commercial fisherman in Monterey, California; a stockbroker in San Jose, California and finally as a small rancher in Grants Pass, Oregon, where he died in 1978. Martha returned to Salt Lake City where she had family. She made many friends in the duplicate bridge groups and was active until the last several years. Martha was preceded in death by her husband and oldest son, Wirt Salthouse, Jr. She is survived by son, Tim (Twila), Charlottesville, Virginia, daughter-in-law Denise Salthouse, Medford, Oregon, son Michael, Honolulu, Hawaii, four grandchildren and four great grandchildren. Also surviving is her sister, Dorothy Knudsen.
At her request, no viewing or services will be held.
