Martha M. (Muse) Stikeman, 72, of Salem, NH died Thurs., Sept. 19th at Holy Family Hospital in Methuen, MA. Martha was born in 1941, in Malden, MA. She spent her childhood in the Greenwood section of Wakefield, MA, attending the Greenwood Elementary School, where she met her future husband David on the very first day of school, in first grade. David told his mother that day he'd met the girl he was going to marry. And they did, in 1962, at The Most Blessed Sacrament Church, just around the corner from her childhood home. They celebrated their 50th anniversary in 2012, and were surprised with a family cruise to Bermuda.
Martha was a proud member of the “Greenwood Farmers”, a group of childhood friends with whom she remained close her entire life. She graduated Wakefield High School in 1959 and attended Merrimack College.
She and David moved soon after to Salem, NH, where she was a homemaker and mother to three boys, who she raised with love to be family men themselves. She said many times, fondly, that “all she ever really wanted was to be a wife and mother”.
When her children were older, Martha became a manager at Digital Equipment Corporation in Salem, where she arrived each day in a red-and-white 1956 Mercury. She later worked at the Center for Life Management, also in Salem. In later years, she and David enjoyed early retirement, traveling extensively, often with their close friends. They visited most of the United States including Alaska and Hawaii, much of Europe, as far as Australia, and through the Panama Canal.
Each of the past ten years, she and David wintered in Punta Gorda, where she was socially active in the community at Water's Edge, and where she lived on a sunny spot on a small pond with her husband of 51 years. Martha loved cooking for her family, working in her garden, quilting, and rooting for the Red Sox and Patriots. She especially loved her grandchildren, who she saw (and hugged) as often as she could.
She is survived by her husband, David Stikeman of Salem, NH
She was mother to three sons; James and his wife Dee (Duncan), of Derry, NH,
John and his wife Christina (Calabria), of Atkinson, NH
Jeff and his wife Darlene (DesFosses), of Wakefield, MA
Martha adored her 8 grandchildren, Thomas, Joseph, Taylor, Amanda, Emily, Elizabeth, Henry, and Tucker. She was an aunt to several nieces and nephews.
She was sister to Mary Dumont of Wakefield, and sister-in-law to Marilyn Cornett of Derry NH, and to Barbara Holloway, of Wakefield.
Calling hours will be Sunday, Sept. 22nd from 2-6 PM at Douglas & Johnson Funeral Home, 214 Main St, Salem, NH.
The Funeral Service will be Monday at 10:30 AM at Douglas & Johnson. Cremation will follow. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, 501 St Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105.