Martha M. Nestor

1943 - 2020

Martha Martin Nestor passed away November. 11, 2020, she was born in Pennsylvania, the daughter of Barbara Grandlienard Martin, an artist, and John Cochrane Martin, a chemical engineer. The family hobbies were gardening, orchard-keeping, sailing and painting, and they remained interests to the end of her life. She graduated from Mt. Holyoke College with a degree in English literature and immediately began a long career in words, as editor for Ginn and Company publishers, followed by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, and Harbridge House management consultants on Arlington St. in Boston. She was married to John Wesley Nestor Jr of Wilmington, Delaware. They had three children who grew up in Carlisle and Concord, MA, adding pony club, music, wrestling, soccer and rowing to the list of family interests. In 1974 Marty founded the weekly Carlisle Gazette, modeled after the Vineyard Gazette in Edgartown MA, mentored by the publishers of the nearby Harvard Post, and later merged with the Carlisle Mosquito. Following a divorce, she became a real estate broker in Concord, rising to vice president at Coldwell Banker. In 2001 she renovated, with architect Chip Dewing, her c. 1810 barn into her later-life home. Marty also had a home at Crater Club in Essex, NY, where the family gathered every summer to sail and swim in Lake Champlain and bike and hike the Adirondack mountains. Marty enjoyed her 37-year-long association with the Garden Club of Concord, her bridge friends of many years, and her book club of 45 years, along with many other local organizations over her long time living here. She is survived by her three children: Camilla Nestor (Will Hong) of Newburgh, NY; John W. Nestor III (Erin Roland) of Burlington, VT; and Sarah Nes tor Welch (Michael Welch) of Kittery, ME; and four grandsons: Felix Nestor, Walker Nestor, Sargent Welch and Miles Welch. She is also survived by three siblings, four nieces and nephews, and two great-nephews. She died peacefully at home of fibrosis, a late effect of radiation she received in her 30s. Marty will be remembered for her joie de vivre, genuine interest in others, and love of words in all forms: aphorisms, essays, epigrams, and bons mots. She collected memoirs, the smaller and more idiosyncratic the better. She was especially fond of Estabrook Road, with its feeling of Thoreaus narrow and crooked path, and loved the small, old piece of orchard land on which her barn-home stood. On the wall of her kitchen facing the garden, guests could read the quotation, Si Caelum in terra sit haec, Id est Laetitia Aeterna If heaven on earth there be, right here is gladness forever. A private memorial service will be held in Concord, MA. Donations in her memory may be made to the Concord Art Association, 37 Lexington Rd., Concord, MA 01742 www.concordart.org or Trustees of the Reservation, 200 High St., Boston, MA 02110 www.thetrustees.org. Arrangements under the care of Glenn D. Burlamachi, Concord Funeral Home, A Life Celebration Home, Concord. To share a memory or offer a condolence visit: www.concordfuneral.com.