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- The Conway Daily Sun, May 26, 2017
Iris Marie Coville Thompson Ortner (Picture included)
Iris Marie Coville Thompson Ortner, 95, died in Nashua on April 19, 2017.
She was an independent woman who loved helping others. Known from childhood as Mar-ie (emphasis on the first syllable), she was born April 14, 1922, to Stanley Coville and Iris Marie Bassett and spent her childhood in New Lisbon, N.J., where her father grew blueberries and managed the TruBlu blueberry growers coop. Her grandfather Frederick Vernon Coville domesticated blueberries as a cultivated crop and it was his collaboration with Elizabeth White of Whitesbog, N.J., that brought her parents to New Jersey.
Marie attended public schools in Pemberton, N.J., where she met Vinton Newbold Thompson II while in high school. Both enrolled at Cornell University and they married in June 1944.
Following a honeymoon in Ocean City, N.J., and an adventurous cross-country wartime auto trip, they spent a summer at Fort Lewis, Wash., where Vinton started his service as an officer in the Army Quartermaster Corps. After his unit was sent to France, Marie enrolled for a year at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to train as a draftsman in the design of airplane propellers. Eventually, she returned to Cornell and graduated with a bachelor?s degree in horticulture. Vinton returned from the war in 1946, following a posting in Manila.
Marie and Vinton had three children in 1947, 1948 and 1950, Vinton III, Lydia More and Patricia Marie. After renting a house in Pemberton, N.J., they moved in 1950 to Vinton?s large family house in Vincentown, N.J., which they shared with Vinton?s mother Edith until her death in 1960. Marie ran the household and supported Vinton?s work at the family owned Birches Cranberry Co. in Tabernacle, N.J. She was active in the Girl Scouts and PTA, served on the boards of the Episcopal Church and town library and volunteered at Mount Holly Hospital.
Following her husband?s untimely death from cancer in 1963, she enrolled in Drexel Institute, received a master?s degree in library science, and worked as a librarian at Cooper Hospital in Camden, N.J., until she retired. During her time at Cooper, she wrote grants for other hospitals in the New Jersey/New York/Pennsylvania tri-state area and lectured extensively on how to purchase and share library resources among hospitals years before the internet.
Marie had a long and happy retirement, first in Roxbury, N.Y., where she lived in a historic stone house and was active in the More Family Association, later at the Jenner?s Pond Retirement Community, West Grove, Pa., where she was a Hospice volunteer for many years. In her last years she lived at the Hunt Living Community in Nashua, where she could be closer to her youngest daughter and her brother Stanley Coville of Tamworth.
While living in Roxbury she met and married Charles Ortner. They enjoyed several years together and wintered in San Diego and Spain before Charles died in 1986. In later years, she traveled extensively to destinations like Egypt, Norway and Antarctica. In 1972, she purchased a summer cabin in Wonalancet, near her brother Stan and his wife Nancy, and spent many happy months there every year. She also enjoyed collecting antiques, gardening, hiking, forging for wild edibles, gourmet cooking, eating culturally diverse foods, reading and watching her grandchildren grow.
She is survived by her children, Vinton Thompson of Manhattan, Lydia Thompson of LaPorte, Colo., Patricia (Heather) Thompson Ryan of Lexington, Mass., and their respective spouses Ruth Moscovitch, Scott Ellis and Thomas Ryan; six grandchildren; and one great-grandchild. She is also survived by three nephews, two nieces, and her sisters-in-law Sister Josephine (Ortner) and Nancy Coville.
The family is grateful to the caregivers and volunteers at Home, Health and Hospice of Merrimack and the Hunt Pavilion staff for making her last three months peaceful. Their devotion was outstanding. A service will be held Aug. 19 in Wonalancet (details to be announced).
Donations in her memory may be made to Heifer International.
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Bassett Family Association Database
1922 - 2017 (95 years)
d. 7 Feb 1967, New Lisbon, Burlington County, New Jersey