Burial Date
Obituaries » HILDA E. MARTIN
MARTIN, HILDA ELAINE HOLDEN, 87, of The Gardens, died October 3 at Berlin Health and Rehabilitation Center, with family at her side. Born March 11, 1926, in Barre City, she was the daughter of Wilman and Mildred (Thompson) Holden. Hilda grew up in Plainfield, graduating from Plainfield High School in 1944. On May 17, 1947, she married James “Jim” Martin at Grace United Methodist Church in Plainfield. They were married 39 wonderful years before his death in 1986. Jim and Hilda made their home in Barre and spent many summers at the family camp on Woodbury Lake. Hilda was an accomplished tap dancer and acrobat, performing with her father as a child. For many years she was employed by the New England Telephone Company in Montpelier. After leaving Barre in 1991, she lived in Royal Palm Beach, Fla., and Windsor, Vt. Since 2008 she had resided at The Gardens, in Williamstown. She enjoyed quilting, homemaking (especially baking), dancing, shopping, traveling, tennis, and photography. Family was an important part of her life and she enjoyed her many friends. She and her husband Jim will be remembered as faithful and active members of the Barre Congregational Church and its activities. Hilda was a Jaycee Ann and a member of the Home Demonstration Club. A loving wife, mother, sister, aunt, grandmother, and great-grandmother, Hilda is survived by her four children: son Robert Martin and wife Susan, daughter Cynthia Martin and husband George Longenecker, daughter Kathleen “Kate” Chatot and husband Jules, and son William and wife Nellie; 10 grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren; as well as several nieces and nephews and their extended families. She is also survived by her sister, Ila Perry and by her dear friend and companion, Frank Gaylord of The Gardens. Hilda was predeceased by her parents, her brother Willard, and her second husband John Kobe.
