Martha Christian led the way for women in the courtroom in Middle Georgia

The first female superior court judge in Bibb County died Jan. 16 and is remembered by fellow judges for being “kind but firm” and “thoughtful.”

Martha Christian, 74, died last Thursday from natural causes, according to Rabun County Coroner Sam Beck. 

She is survived by her husband, George, sisters Linda Drake, Rebecca Currie, Donna Gossett and Beverly Currie. 

“She was a model judge,” former colleague Lamar Sizemore said. “The old expression about ‘justice delayed is justice denied,’ … she would always rule promptly on cases to allow lawyers to move their clients’ cases along.”

Christian was born in Forest Park in 1950. She first went to school at Georgia State University in 1972 before getting her master’s in education in 1974 from the University of Georgia.

She arrived in Macon in 1977 and graduated from Mercer University’s law school a few years later.

Christian was the first woman to serve as a superior court judge for the Macon Judicial Circuit — which covers Bibb, Crawford and Peach counties — and held the position from 1994 to 2011. 

Sizemore, who now operates his own practice in Macon, served as a superior court judge alongside Christian, but first met her when she came to work at his firm after graduating from Mercer.

Christian always expected people to come into her courtroom prepared, since she held herself to the same standard, Sizemore said. However, she “always treated lawyers with respect” in her courtroom.

More than 17 years on the bench made her a resource for other judges, as she had “vast experience” with all different kinds of civil and criminal cases.

“She ran a good court, and everybody knew when she put her robe on and came to the courtroom that it was all business,” Sizemore said.

After retiring from the Macon Judicial Circuit, Christian moved up north with her husband to Rabun County, where she spent time as a senior judge in the Northeastern Judicial Circuit, as a part-time position.

George Christian worked in the U.S. Attorney’s Office Middle District of Georgia before being named the Mountain Judicial Circuit District Attorney in 2016 after the high school sweethearts moved away from Macon.

Jason Deal, chief judge for the Northeastern Judicial Circuit, met Martha Christian when she began working as a senior judge. He similarly remembers her for how she treated staff and lawyers with kindness and professionalism.

Christian was a “ceiling buster” who established a place for women on the bench — women, Deal said.

“Judge Christian certainly could’ve made a lot more money going into private practice,” Deal said. “But she devoted her life to public service because she saw that it was necessary for her community and our society to have someone willing to make a fair judgment, to make a decision.”

A public celebration of Christian’s life is to be scheduled and announced at a later date.