Mary E. (Holton) Race, 89, of Northfield, Vt., Presque Isle, Damariscotta, Goffstown, N.H. and Braintree, Mass., passed away on March 7 at a health care facility in Presque Isle after a short illness.
Mary was born on May 22, 1921 to Gertrude (Blossom) Holton and Carl Russell Holton in Worcester, Mass. where she lived as a young child. Her family moved from Worcester to Braintree, Mass. in 1929. She always looked forward to spending summers in Boothbay Harbor, the hometown of both of her parents. She graduated from Braintree High School with the class of 1939 and went on to attend the University of Massachusetts, graduating in 1943. She received her degree in home economics with a focus on nutrition, textiles, and interior design.
After college, she taught nutrition classes to low income families through the Hampden County Extension Service in Springfield, Mass. and later taught home economics in Brockton, Mass.
She was married on July 2, 1945 in Braintree, Mass. to Edward Race of East Boothbay. They lived in Orono, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
In 1949 they moved to Northfield, Vt. where Edward accepted a position as professor at Norwich University. They purchased one of the oldest homes in Northfield, Vt. in 1954 and worked hard to improve the property over the coming years. They raised their family and lived there until Edward retired from Norwich in 1985. At that time, they moved to another country home in Damariscotta where Mary resided until 2002. She then moved to a smaller lakeside home in Goffstown, N.H. to be near her son and grandchildren. Since 2007, she enjoyed her residence at the Leisure Village retirement center in Presque Isle where she took pleasure in open spaces, visits to the north Maine woods, and moose watching.
In the early years in Northfield, Mary worked at the Norwich University library and became involved with hand weaving in her home. She was soon recognized in Vermont as an accomplished weaver and sold woven items of clothing primarily through specialty shops in Stowe and Woodstock. She taught weaving and interior design at the University of Vermont in Burlington and Castleton and at other locations for the Vermont Extension Service. She was known for her creativity and enthusiasm at workshops she held in elementary schools to introduce children to weaving and crafts. She taught home economics at Northfield High School on a substitute basis. Her weaving and spinning demonstrations and exhibitions were well received at various country fairs and summer events in northern New England.
She traveled frequently later in life, especially with Elderhostels, to places of geological interest. Destinations included Newfoundland, Labrador, the Canadian Arctic, Iceland, Greenland, Scandinavia, Hawaii and the Canadian Rockies. As a senior citizen, she visited the arctic region above Spitzbergen, Norway aboard a Russian oceanographic research vessel and in inflatable rafts to study icebergs and glaciers and came home to share some amazing “up close” photographs.
As an avid reader of natural history and scientific literature, she especially enjoyed the writings of Chet Raymo. She audited courses in geology at Norwich University and Bowdoin College. She was also interested in amateur astronomy, oceanography, fractals, cooking, canoeing, watercolor painting, art appreciation, camping, photography, and ice skating and played the flute from an early age. Throughout her life she held a special affinity for horses, including her horse Lady Millis that she owned as a young woman. She was fascinated and inspired by clouds and ocean surf. She very much enjoyed poetry; a book of verses written by her father when she was a child endured as her favorite possession.
Mary was active in church, civic, and academic organizations. Among these were the Unitarian Church, the Vermont Arts and Crafts Council, the Vermont Weavers Guild, various entities at Norwich University, the Boothbay Region Historical Society, the University of Maine’s Darling Marine Center in Walpole, the Gulf of Maine Foundation, and the Damariscotta Chamber of Commerce.
She was predeceased by her husband, Edward in 1986 and son, Clyde in 2008.
Mary is survived by her sister, Louise Worth and husband Walter of Quincy, Mass.; son, Byron of Presque Isle; and grandchildren, Kristy Race of Manchester, N.H., Joshua Prim, also of Manchester and Kenneth Race of Oklahoma City, Okla.; nieces, Patricia McLaughlin and Carol Apgar; nephew, Ronald Worth, all of Massachusetts; and cousins and in-laws in Maine and Massachusetts.
Visiting hours 6-8 p.m., Fri., March 18 at Hall Funeral Home, 949 Main St., Waldoboro. Burial will be at the Hall Cemetery in Jefferson.
Memorial donations in Mary’s name may be made to The Nature Conservancy, Attn: Treasury (web/memorial giving), 4245 N. Fairfax Dr., Suite 100 Arlington, VA 22203.
Condolences may be made through the book of memories at www.hallfuneralhomes.com.
Arrangements are entrusted to Hall Funeral Home and Cremation Services, Waldoboro.
