Martha Milburn Spray

Published 10:00 pm Thursday, September 4, 2014

Martha Milburn Spray, 83, of Tryon, died on Aug. 30, 2014.
Martha studied Russian and French at the University of Kentucky and Middlebury College. She and her husband Dean raised their three girls in Wheaton, Md., moved to Maryland’s eastern shore after Dean’s retirement and relocated to Tryon in 2012 to be near family.
Martha’s lifelong love of sewing evolved into an art, which also became her business, Bearlooms, a collection of handcrafted heirloom mohair bears. Martha’s bears have been sold internationally and, with Dean as her “roadie,” Martha and Bearlooms attended art fairs across the eastern United States.
Martha’s other love was travel. She lived in Germany, Okinawa and Turkey and visited many other countries where she prized learning about other faiths and cultures. She and Dean spent time at their house on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast each year, where they shared their adventures with family and friends until Dean’s death in March.
Martha is survived by her three daughters, three grandchildren and a great-grandson.