Civilla Durfee Martin died on March 9, 1948, in Atlanta, Georgia. “His Eye is on the Sparrow” and “God Will Take Care of You” are just two of the many hymns she wrote during her life. She and her husband wrote several hymns, but her most famous (“His Eye is on the Sparrow” became a marquee song by jazz great Ethel Waters who came to know Christ at a Billy Graham crusade. Civilla and her husband were visiting a couple in Elmira, NY, who had been bedridden and wheelchair-bound for twenty years. When Civilla asked how they persevered, they responded that Luke 12:6-7 was their sustainer because it says that if God watches over the sparrows, surely He watches over them as well.
