Memorial Service for Martha Richmond

Martha Martha Richmond passed at the age of 94 on April 9th, surrounded by family at her longtime home in Andover. She was born Martha Jane Philbrick in 1925 to Maurice Swain Philbrick M.D. and Hilda Grace Fanning Philbrick R.N. After her mother died tragically in 1931, her father remarried Edna Brown R.N. in 1935 and they moved their young family to his ancestral hometown of Skowhegan Maine, where she spent her teenage years. MJ, as she was known by family, followed her parents into healthcare. While serving as an R.N. alongside prominent surgeon Frank H. Lahey M.D. in the operating rooms at New England Baptist Hospital, one of her patients was a wounded World War II GI and Maine native, Lysander “Sandy” Richmond. Martha and Sandy married in Skowhegan in 1949 and made their first home in Boston before moving to Stoneham and then Andover. A devoted bridge enthusiast, she enjoyed recounting that she only accepted his request for a date when her group needed a fourth and she discovered that he also played. As a lead ICU/CCU nurse at New England Memorial Hospital, she supported Sandy as he grew the R.E. Hill Company, now Hill Packaging, into one of the leading packaging suppliers in New England. She was also engaged in the League of Women Voters and the Unitarian Church of Stoneham. In addition to bridge, she enjoyed tennis, golf, entertaining friends and business associates, and spending time with family and friends at their Good Harbor Beach cottage in Gloucester. Martha was predeceased by her husband, sister, Virginia Philbrick Rea of California, and brother John Fanning Philbrick of Gloucester. She leaves behind her children Richard and his wife, Jane of North Andover, Lysander IV “Sandy” of Portland, Maine, Jane Richmond Guertin of Andover, Annie Richmond Long and her husband Graham of Andover, and Rebecca “Becky” Richmond of Andover; as well as 10 grandchildren, 10 great-grandchildren, and a large extended family.