Martha "Marty" Ellen Zeller, 85, of McCormick, South Carolina, beloved wife of Michael Zeller passed away January 30, 2026, at Self Regional Hospital in Greenwood, South Carolina, where she was recovering from a stroke she suffered in early December.

Martha, who preferred to be called Marty, was born December 26, 1940, in Dothan, Alabama, to Samuel Rowland and Laurine Patterson. She attended high school in Ashford, Alabama, and eventually earned a GED. Her early adult years involved frequent trips from Dothan to Florida where she enjoyed the beaches of Panama City.

She worked as a telephone operator in Dothan, as a laundromat attendant, as a parking lot attendant in Helen, Georgia, and as a pest control technician for Orkin Pest Control in Cornelia, Georgia, where she retired in 2002. Marty's entrepreneurial spirit led her to establish two very popular shops in Helen, Georgia. In one shop she sold items handcrafted by north Georgia artisans especially handmade furniture. The second was a second-hand shop where she recycled used clothing.

Like many southern women of that era, Marty married early and after several unsuccessful marriages she met Michael Zeller, a Professor
Emeritus of Minnesota State University (Mankato) who had retired to Savannah Lakes Village. After a two year courtship Marty and Mike were married on the Opera House steps in Abbeville, South Carolina, October 8, 2004. They honey-mooned in a rustic cabin in F. D. Roosevelt State Park in Pine Mountain, Georgia, visited Callaway Gardens and spent the next twenty-two years exploring the CSRA together. Marty especially
enjoyed the frequent trips to the Newberry Opera House and the North Georgia Mountain Fair where she collected autographed photographs and selfies with Olivia Newton-John, Bobby Goldsboro, The Oak Ridge Boys, Connie Smith, Brenda Lee, The Fifth Dimension, Justin David and a score of other entertainers. So frequent were the trips to the North Georgia Mountain Fair that the family purchased a travel trailer permanently installed at Mr. Bud's Campground. They visited the Biltmore Estate, the Farmer's Market in Asheville, ate marvelous meals at the Dillard House in Dillard, enjoyed ethnic Cuban meals at the Mango Cafe in Hiawassee, and attended barbecue cook-offs. Marty loved children and dogs. Because of the tumultuous relationships of her daughters Marty was occasionally called on to rear their children a role which she willingly assumed at considerable sacrifice. Notable was her caring for her grandson, Hunter, whom she loved dearly and reared from age eight to age twelve and who lived with the Zeller family from age sixteen while he attended Long Cane Academy and who lives with her husband today. She loved dogs and owned Great Danes, St. Bernards, miniature poodles, black labs and Chihauhaus. She frequently expressed concern for abused or abandoned dogs and spent a lifetime rescuing, fostering and caring for as many as twelve dogs which became as devoted to Marty as she was to them. Notable were her little miniature poodle, Missy, and Susie a black lab and ever present protector whose ashes accompanied Marty to her grave. Marty was an expert cook and fisherman and has trophies to prove it. She prided herself in preparing wonderful Thanksgiving and New Years traditional dinners. Marty loved to eat out and frequented some restaurants so often that she established close relationships with the owners of the Taste of Thai in Willington, Asia Fusion in Evans, and Little Italy in McCormick. She looked forward to the dinners sponsored by Lee Builders for their clients where she made some life long friends. She and her husband fished for years from the shores of Lake Thurmond and later from the dock at their lake house in Tignall for crappies, stripers and bass and in the mountain streams of north Georgia for trout. When Lee Builders sponsored fishing contests for two years in the pond on Tommy Lee's estate Marty was the only woman to compete and won a trophy for the most fish the first year and most fish and largest fish the second year. Marty did beautiful flower arrangements with artificial flowers purchased from Hobby Lobby that adorned homes in Savannah Lakes Village, Harlem Georgia, and Lincolnton, Georgia. Marty confessed that her favorite activity was shopping and she was an accomplished shopper both online and in the stores.

When her grandson was attending Long Cane Academy in McCormick and playing basketball she attended all the games home and away and was so intently involved in school activities in support of Long Cane that the final yearbook was dedicated to the Zeller family. Marty was a devote Christian and a member of First Assembly of God in Lincolnton. Because of her early intense religious experience she knew most of the words to the hymns in the Broadman Hymnal and read the entire Bible twice. She loved the music of the gospel groups especially the McKameys and the
Isaacs.

Marty is survived by her husband Michael James Zeller, her sisters Betty Panyik (Bob) of Broadway, Virginia, and Linda Rowland Parker Mayes of Dothan, Alabama, daughters Heather Yerby of Dalonega, Georgia, and Lisa Thomas of Gainesville, Georgia, her grandsons Sebastian Yerby, Frankie Krisiak and Hunter Foley, her niece Shay Philips (Carroll) of Dothan, Alabama, sisters in law Carol Morgan and Mary Mahoney of Decatur, Georgia, and cousins Quay Lewis of Birmingham, Alabama, Mary Alice Hughes of Panama City Beach, Florida and life-long friend Martha Paramore of Ashford, Alabama. She was preceded in death by her parents Samuel Rowland and Laurine Patterson Rowland and two disabled brothers.

A graveside service will be held Thursday February 5, at 2 PM at Bethany Church of Iveytown, Bethany Church Road, Lincolnton, Georgia, conducted by co-pastors Lanis Lewis and Terry Bonds. The family will receive friend from 3 until 5:00 p.m. Wednesday at Rees Funeral Home. Marty can be honored by contributions to the ASPCA.

You may sign the family's online guestbook at: www.reesfuneralhome.net .

Rees Funeral Home, 195 N Peachtree St., Lincolnton, GA 706-359-3222 would like to thank the Zeller family for your trust and confidence to serve you during this difficult time.