Martha L. Patton passed away peacefully at Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis, MA on Friday, March 24, 2023. She was 84.
Born in Malden, MA, Martha was the daughter of John and Violet Donahue and younger sister to Paul Donahue. John was a salesman and Violet a librarian. The family lived in the same modest house throughout Martha’s childhood. From an early age, she loved learning and would go on to an education career in multiple school systems.

When Martha was in her early 20s, tragedy struck the family. John, who had significant cardiac issues for years, died in his sleep. Violet and John had intended to retire to a house in West Yarmouth, MA that they had already picked out. Martha helped Violet make the move and lived with her mother during the summer when Newton Public Schools was not in session.

During the rest of the year, Martha lived in an apartment in Norwood, MA. One day, a young engineer named Delbert E. Patton introduced himself by the building’s mailboxes. It turned out he lived across the hall and had been looking for a chance to meet her. The pair began dating and quickly found common interests in Boston Symphony Orchestra concerts, trips to major museums, and fine dining. Del became a regular weekend guest at the West Yarmouth house during the warmer months. The couple were married in 1966 in Norwood and soon bought a house in rapidly expanding Chelmsford, MA. It contained ample space for future children. The yard was backed by a farm with open land, making the whole area popular with lots of wildlife.

Del was a skilled theoretical scientist as well as a practical engineer for Raytheon and often sent abroad. Martha and he enjoyed the resulting global travel opportunities. Prior to having children, the pair visited England, France, and Italy and skied the Alps. They also traveled to Central and South America to visit Mayan and Incan sites, furthering their interest in early civilizations.

Martha resigned from Newton Public Schools before the birth of her first son, Craig, in 1969. Younger son Keith was born in 1972. For the next 15 years, she was a full-time homemaker, raising her young children and focused on the family’s needs. She taught the boys to swim in Heart Pond in Chelmsford, took them on visits to local history and cultural institutions, and enrolled them in various preschool programs that met her exacting standards. The whole family regularly went on camping and hiking trips. They towed their tent trailer on vacations throughout the Northeast United States and Eastern Canada. Countless hours were enjoyed together at science museums, aquariums, and art museums. They took in concerts from Tanglewood in the Berkshires to the Esplanade in Boston to bandshells on the Cape.
Along the way, Martha began to take on volunteer roles. When the boys began a journey in Scouting that would result in them both earning the rank of Eagle Scout, Martha was their first adult leader. She served as a Den Leader in Chelmsford Pack 79, based at St. Mary’s Church. A devout Catholic, Martha also volunteered in the St. Mary’s Christian education program. She hosted dozens of youth in classes at the family home. She also served as her sons’ advisor when both earned Scouting’s Ad Altare Dei religious emblem. In addition, Martha sometimes donned early American clothing as a volunteer at events for the Chelmsford Historical Society.

When Craig reached high school, Martha returned to full time work in education as the Head Guidance Counselor for the Academy of Notre Dame in Tyngsboro, MA. For over a decade, she helped hundreds of young women, and their families navigate the high school years and the college search process. As with everything in her life, Martha was hard working and detail oriented. This often resulted in long hours at the office after everyone else had left followed by late dinners at home because the family maintained a commitment to eat together.
Martha’s unwavering dedication to family included supporting her mother as Violet aged and eventually developed dementia. There were countless phone calls and trips to the Cape. In the final stages, Martha located a retirement community in Chelmsford that had the support services that Violet needed. She routinely visited her mother until Violet passed in 1994.

After both boys were successfully launched into their adult lives, Martha and Del retired and moved to West Yarmouth in 1996. Martha had inherited the house from her mother and Del designed a substantial renovation, including the addition of a second floor so that there would be ample room for guests and a better view of the salt marsh.

Over the next 20+ years, Del and Martha traveled extensively, often using condo exchange credits from the property they had purchased decades earlier at Attitash Mountain Resort in New Hampshire. Highlights included a Viking cruise along rivers from the Mediterranean to the North Sea, a journey to Alaska that took them above the Arctic Circle, and a trip to China with Keith. The pair visited Williamsburg, VA so often that a local tour coordinator asked them if they’d ever considered being docents.

A lifelong nature lover, Martha took particular interest and delight in birds. She selected and maintained a variety of feeders in the Chelmsford and West Yarmouth homes, providing specific birdseed and food for individual species. A heated bird bath ensured that fresh water was available year-round. She could identify dozens of species and knew their behavioral habits.

Martha was a season ticket holder at Cape Cod Symphony and a member of the Cape Cod Natural History Museum for many years. She was a reliable donor to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in later years.

She is survived by her sons Craig and Keith, and four grandchildren.

A funeral Mass will be celebrated on July 8, 2023 at 11:00 AM at Saint Pius X Church, Station Ave., South Yarmouth, MA with a reception to follow at Scargo Cafe in Dennis. Her cremains will be interred in the Memorial Wall at Holy Trinity Church in Harwich. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the National Park Foundation (www.nationalparks.org),the Center for Coastal Studies (coastalstudies.org), or the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (www.whoi.edu).

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