Martha Child, who graduated from Ridgefield High School in 1962, died on May 13 at Concord Hospice House after a long illness. She was 70 years old.
She was born Martha Reedy on June 2, 1943 in Brownsville, Texas, to Allen D. and Ernestine Reedy.
Ms. Child attended college at New England College in Henniker, N.H., where she met Gary Child. They were married on April 25, 1964.
She is survived by her husband of 50 years, Gary E. Child; sons Steven K. Child of Asheville, N.C., Matthew R. Child of Woodbridge, Va., Christopher J. Child of Highlands Ranch, Colo., and sister, Susan Schnur of Islesboro, Maine. She was predeceased by her parents Dale and Ernestine Reedy, late of Hillsborough, N.H., formerly of Ridgefield.
Her grandchildren are Kelsey and Rhiannon Child of Woodbridge and Alison and Abby Rose Child of Highlands Ranch.
Her family said she dreamed of being a nurse from a young age, and she graduated with an associate’s degree of science and nursing from New Hampshire Technical Institute in Concord, N.H. She served as an EMT on the Souhegan Valley Ambulance Service in New Hampshire in the 1980s and taught first aid in local schools.
At home she enjoyed teaching her children how to cook, a skill they all excel at today. Her hobbies included fishing, shooting and reading; she loved music and often sang harmony with her husband Gary. In later years she developed a passion for the Boston Red Sox, and she watched — and occasionally attended — games regularly. All of these things she did with her husband by her side.