Martha Jenkins Kesler

Martha Jenkins Kesler, passed away on June 18, 2026, at Magnolia Village in Bowling Green, Ky., after a brief illness. She was born in said city on July 24, 1930, to Mr. and Mrs. Leslie Graham Jenkins (Helen Green) during the hottest summer on record in the state. Four days after her birth, Bowling Green and the state logged the all-time record high that still stands.

The family (which now included Leslie, Jr. “Sonny”, 1935-1999) moved to Leitchfield, KY, in 1940 as Mr. Jenkins advanced in his career with the Rural Electrification Administration (REA). In 1946, they returned to Bowling Green, where the future Mrs. Kesler graduated with honors from Bowling Green High School in 1948. While there, she excelled in choral music, theatre and had a starring role in the play “A Date With Judy”. She attended college at Bowling Green Business University, a part of Western Kentucky University, where she met her future husband, Joseph Butner Kesler, Jr. of Concord, NC, in 1949 at the Baptist Student Union. They fell in love and married on August 31, 1950, at First Baptist Church. After completing their studies they moved to Nashville, TN. for Mr. Kesler’s career, soon after.  

For half a decade, Mrs. Kesler had a career as an executive secretary for the president of a company. She left it to become a full-time homemaker with the news that a son was on the way. Joseph B Kesler, III (Joey) was born in 1957, followed by a second son, Jonathan Graham Kesler four years later. In 1967, the young family relocated to Bellaire, FL., in suburban Tampa-St. Petersburg for Mr. Kesler’s career. In the 1970s, the Keslers relocated again, to Owensboro, KY. As they raised their family, Mrs. Kesler focused on being an outstanding wife and mother, as well as being active in the garden club, the church choir and Ikebana International, the art of Japanese flower arranging.  

A final career move for Mr. Kesler was back to Nashville in 1984, where they resided in the Bellevue neighborhood at the time of Mr. Kesler’s passing in 1997. With her children grown and gone; Mrs. Kesler joined an interior design firm there for ten years from the late eighties to the mid-nineties. She resided in their home until the devastating Nashville flood in 2010. The aftermath saw her move back to her hometown of Bowling Green for the rest of her life. 

Mrs. Kesler’s life was the embodiment of love, caring and compassion as she gave back to her church and community over the decades through many hours of volunteering. In addition to her continued participation in garden club. A lifelong Democrat, she volunteered as a poll worker in later years. She was a gentle, gracious, friendly person. She remained always the optimist, even in the face of adversity, including during two successful battles with cancer.

Mrs. Kesler is survived by her youngest son, Jonathan Kesler and his husband, Wagner Sodre, Jr., of Seattle metro, Washington; daughter-in-law, Andrea Reed Kesler of London, KY; grandson Joshua Reed Kesler, and his wife Destiny Kesler; great-grandson, Tennyson Kesler of Prestonsburg, KY as well as other relations. She was preceded in death not only by her parents, brother and husband, but also by her oldest son, Joseph B. (Joey) Kesler, III. 

Visitation will be at First Baptist Church, Bowling Green, KY. on Monday, June 22, 2026 from 9:30 am to 12:00 noon CDT with the funeral immediately after at noon CDT. Graveside service and interment will occur at Cap Anderson Cemetery, Brandenburg, Ky., on the same day, at 5:30pm EDT. Bruington-Jenkins-Sturgeon Funeral Home of Brandenburg is handling all arrangements.