Nancy Powers Powers Martin

Freeport - Nancy Powers Martin, 96, the widow of Gordon Elmer Martin, of South Freeport, died on Tuesday, January 4, 2011. Born in West Medford, Mass. on Dec. 20, 1914, a daughter of Albert Blake Powers and Katherine Gertrude Bacon, she attended Medford schools, summered with her family at Ferry Beach in Saco and was graduated in 1937 from the University of New Hampshire, where she was queen of the May Day Pageant and a member of Alpha Chi Omega, a sorority. She did graduate studies at the University of Maine in Orono.

Nancy married Gordon E. Martin of Portland, a classmate at UNH, in Portland on June 29, 1940. They were married for 59 years, until his death on June 16, 2000. The couple lived in Portland until 1970, when they built their treasured dream house in the woods at Spar Cove in Freeport, the site of many happy gatherings with their children and beloved grandchildren.

Grandson Ben Martin, born in Portland, son Peter Martin and daughter-in-law Marlene de Reeder, visited frequently from their home in San Diego, so Ben could enjoy Maine's blizzards and hurricanes from the deck overlooking nearby birch trees. Peter and Ben helped restore the Martins’ Royal Lowell lobster boat and enjoyed trips to Pound of Tea Island in Freeport, then owned by Gordon's brother. Grandchildren Jennifer and Jonathan Lovell, of Portland, had their own rooms at their grandparents' house, and most visits resulted in their learning new skills such as cookery and photography. Nancy liked to walk through Spar Cove Forest with her grandchildren, teaching them the names of the plants and animals they saw there.

She owned several collie dogs and enjoyed showing them. During a Vacationland Dog Club of Maine sanctioned match, her dog, ironically named “Champ,” sat down in the ring and refused to move no matter what command she gave or how hard she pulled on his lead. After that, she gave up showing dogs and just enjoyed their antics and companionship. Her favorite dog was “Emily,” a Samoyed-golden retriever cross who had a big white heart-shaped spot on her forehead.

Mrs. Martin was a home demonstration agent for the UNH extension service from 1937 until 1940. During the 1950s, she was chief therapeutic dietitian at Mercy Hospital in Portland, and was a faculty member of the Mercy Hospital School of Nursing. She was a consultant to the Portland City Hospital (now the Barron Center), to the Pineland Hospital and Training Center in Pownal, and to the Central Maine Area Agency on Aging, and was an advisory council member of Southern Maine Vocational Technical Institute (now Southern Maine Community College).

In the early 1960s, she became director of nutrition services for the Maine Department of Mental Health and Corrections, where she pioneered the centralized management of food service operations for ten institutions. She received the Distinguished Service Award from Governor James B. Longley. After her retirement from the Department of Mental Health and Corrections in the early 1980s, Mrs. Martin continued to act as a consultant for various institutions.

A member and past deacon of the South Freeport Church, she was a former member of Woodfords Congregational Church in Portland. She was a member of the Psi Lambda Honorary Society, the Freeport Women's Club, the Women's Legislative Council of Maine, and the Maine Association of Retirees.

Mrs. Martin enjoyed seafood, especially shellfish, and was proud of the fact that her great grandfather, Allen Holbrook Bacon of Wellfleet, Mass. and his cousin, Hawes Atwood, founded Boston's Union Oyster House and many Atwood & Bacon Oyster Houses during the 1800s.

Survivors include her son, Peter Gilman Martin of North Las Vegas, Nevada, and his son, Benjamin Pearson Martin of Las Vegas; Mrs. John (Susan Blake Martin) Lovell of Portland and her children, Jennifer Blake Lovell Adams and Jonathan Wallace Lovell, both of Portland. She was predeceased by her sister, Katherine Bacon Powers Towne.

In August of 2010, Mrs. Martin became a resident of the Franklin Unit of the Hawthorne House in Freeport. The victim of many strokes, a brain tumor, vasculitis, polymyalgia rheumatica, arthritis, and dementia, she died of pneumonia after a fall that resulted in her breaking a hip.

A private graveside service will be held at the family plot at Evergreen Cemetery in Portland at the convenience of the family. There will be no visiting hours. Arrangements are through the Lindquist Funeral Home, 1 Mayberry Lane, Yarmouth, Maine 04096. Please visit www.lindquistfuneralhome.com to share your condolences, memories and tributes with Mrs. Martin’s family.

If desired, memorial contributions may be sent to South Freeport Church, P.O. Box 46, South Freeport, Maine 04078.