Martha Richardson

1939 - 2025

Martha Richardson

Norwich, VT - Martha Hooven Richardson, who passed on October 5, 2025, was born in 1939 in Dayton, Ohio. She went to Oakwood High School, where she sang tenor in the Fortunettes barbershop quartet. In 1957, she took the train across the country to attend Colby College, where she majored in math and sang acapella with the Colbyettes. In her freshman year at Colby, she started dating her future husband of 64 years, Steve Richardson. A computer whiz, she knew how to write machine language, and in the early 1960s, she worked for Michigan Bell, the Foxboro Company, and later was a programmer and project manager at Creare, an engineering firm in Lyme, NH. In 1977, having studied accounting, she became the chief financial officer of a business that Steve had recently founded, Stave Puzzles, a maker of fine wooden jigsaw puzzles. At Stave, she was beloved by countless people who worked there over the years. Martha loved the performing arts, reading, birdwatching, snorkeling, gardening, painting watercolors, doing word puzzles, and in her last years, she excelled at the video game, Animal Crossing. Steve and her had a wonderful marriage notwithstanding Martha's deep distaste bordering on hatred for Tomatoes and Clams, which were two of Steve's favorite foods. She was a loving daughter, wife, and mother, the matriarch of the extended Hooven clan where she functioned as a surrogate mom and grandmother for her many nephews and nieces. She is survived by her husband of 64 years, Steve Richardson, sons Peter (married to Lisa) and Michael, and grandson Simon. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Planned Parenthood of Northern New England in memory of Martha Richardson.