Martha Anne Kotanchick, 88, of Columbia, Mo., died Oct. 10, 2026. Born in Kirksville, Mo., she was the eldest of three children of Charles E. Jr. and Anne Dorothy (Fleming) Murrell, of Edina, Mo. She was the wife of the late Dr. Bernard F. Kotanchick who died in 1983. The couple lived briefly in Allentown before moving to a farm property in Emmaus.

She was a 1955 graduate of Edina High School and a 1959 graduate of Northeast Missouri State Teachers College (now Truman University), Kirksville, where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in biology.

She began her career as a high school biology teacher and then left teaching to focus on raising their three sons. After her husband’s death, she enrolled in Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia and earned a Master of Science degree in psychology. Her subsequent professional career included counseling at a hospital detox center, outpatient care at the Council for Alcohol and Drug Abuse and private practice in Allentown.

Her lifelong hobby and passion was horses. She competed in Western and English style horse shows and trained all three sons to ride and show horses. A respected trainer in the Emmaus area, she also bred, raised, trained and showed award-winning Appaloosas. Her love of horseback riding never waned and she served on a mounted search and rescue squad in the Ozark Mountains, where she had returned to live after her retirement.

Survivors include sons, Gregory F., of Seattle, Wash., Jeffrey C. (Sungja Kim), of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and Timothy M., of Osage Beach, Mo.; brothers, Charles E Murrell III (Barbara Deveny Murrell), of Scottsdale, Ariz. and Michael F. Murrell (Linda Daniell Murrell), of Shorewood, Minn.; nieces, nephews and their children with whom she loved spending time.

Memorials may be made to Lifesavers Wild Horse Rescue, a 501c3 nonprofit organization based in Caliente, Calif. https://www.wildhorserescue.org.