Martha P. Shirer

LENOX -- Martha Pelton Shirer, 92, of 35 Greenwood St. died Dec. 19 at home.

Born in Louisville, Ky., on March 3, 1915, daughter of Thomas E. and Quinlan Hanna Quisenberry, she grew up in Evanston, Ill., and was a graduate of Roycemore School there and of Mount Holyoke College.

She married Richard V. Pelton in 1935. They lived in New Britain, Conn., where she was an early supporter of women's reproductive rights. They moved to Stockbridge in 1946 and to Lenox in 1948. Mr. Pelton died in 1968.

In 1972, she married author William L. Shirer, whom she met at a fundraiser for then presidential candidate George McGovern. The marriage ended in divorce.

Mrs. Shirer was a member of the League of Women's Voters during the 1950s and co-chairwoman of fundraising events for Democratic presidential candidates through the 1970s, including a rally in 1968 in Pittsfield with Tom Lehrer to promote Eugene McCarthy. In February 1980, she hosted a party for Caroline Kennedy, who was fundraising in the Berkshires for Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, then a challenger of President Jimmy Carter in the primaries.

Mrs. Shirer served on the boards of the Rape Crisis Center, now the Elizabeth Freeman Center; of the American Friends Service Committee in Boston; and of the Berkshire Historical Society at Arrowhead from 1991 to 2002, where she was chairwoman of the nominating and development committees, and co-chairwoman of the 2001 Strategic Planning Committee. She also was active in the Mount Holyoke Club of Berkshire County.

She leaves two daughters, Pattie Pelton Lanier of Sarasota, Fla., and Suzanne W. Pelton of Lenox; a son, William Pelton of Charlottesville, Va.; nine grandchildren,; and 10 great-grandchildren.

Anotherdaughter,Cathie Pelton of Lenox, died in 2001.