Martha Joan Aherin Horn 1941 – 2022 BRUNSWICK – Martha Joan Aherin Horn died peacefully at her home in Brunswick on July 21, 2022. She was two weeks shy of her 81st birthday. Martha was born in Syracuse, N.Y. in 1941 to Frank and Evelyn (Coates) Aherin. She grew up in modest circumstances and attended public schools, which gave her a good foundation for the rest of her life. In her early 20s she left for Washington, D.C. to work in our nation’s capital during the Kennedy administration – an exciting time for her and for the country. Her years in Washington included working for the federal government as well as CBS television and the Rand Corporation. She lived in a group house of single women in their 20s and she loved the freedom and adventure of being young and in living in DC. Later she returned to upstate New York where she met J. Drew Horn whom she married in 1965 and later divorced. Drew’s career took them next to Kinderhook, N.Y. where they purchased an old home in the center of the village. Shortly thereafter, they had two children, Samantha Horn and John Tyler “J.T.” Horn. Martha loved the historic nature of the house and took over an ambitious set of gardens from the previous owner. Gardening and landscape design became a life-long hobby. Whenever she traveled, she always sought out the best garden in that city. Her years in Kinderhook as a young mother were some of her best – she loved the small town qualities, being able to walk downtown and the pastoral landscape. She made many lifelong friends from Kinderhook. She frequently reminisced about “beagleing” where she and the family joined the equestrian hunt club on foot for a foxhunt led by beagles. She assured her children that no foxes were caught and that it was simply an excuse to walk around in the woods and be sociable in the beautiful Hudson Valley countryside of the 1970s. In 1977, Drew’s career took them to the Boston area where they settled in Hingham, Mass. Martha loved living near the ocean and she took her children to the beach often where they built sandcastles, took sailing lessons, and learned to windsurf. Martha mostly took in the ocean from the beach – despite a deep love for the ocean, she was not a swimmer. In Hingham, she got deeply involved in town government serving on the Zoning Board of Appeals and other committees. She also worked in real estate and in environmental permitting including some of the design/permitting for the Big Dig that transformed Boston in the 1990s. For more than a decade, she took college classes at Radcliffe and UMass Boston, eventually graduating from college in 1994 at the age of 53. Martha believed strongly in the value of education and she was proud to have persevered to further her knowledge and her career prospects, especially since she felt that college was not possible for women coming from a working class background in the 1950s. After divorcing, she moved to Hull, Mass. where she bought a ramshackle beach cottage and renovated it top to bottom, turning it into a beautiful showpiece home overlooking Nantasket Beach. Fixing up houses became a passion – she loved the process and put great thought into every detail. During these years, she went to work for the City of Newton as an environmental planner. She was particularly proud of her work to expand Newton’s open space including the acquisition of the Angino Farm, which became Newton Community Farm, a small working farm in the heart of the city. She spent over a decade working in Newton and eventually retired from her position in city government. Martha’s last move was to Brunswick where she spent the final 15 years of her life. She chose Maine to be near her grandchildren, Konrad and Toby. She loved hosting them for workdays in her garden and kept a big bag of Legos on her shelf to entertain them. She also wanted to stay close to the ocean and found ample excuses to explore the many peninsulas of Mid-Coast Maine visiting all of the beaches and lighthouses and treating herself to an ice cream cone or a lobster roll. Her favorite was Mackerel Cove in Harpswell. In Brunswick, she pursued another major house renovation transforming a ranch house into a comfortable retirement space where she planned every detail to make aging in place possible. All the planning and renovations were worthwhile as she remained in the house until the very end of her life. Martha volunteered for causes she believed in including town boards, land trusts, garden clubs, and the American Cancer Society. She was a regular volunteer at Mid-Coast Hospital, where she advised cancer patients about their health journey having survived two bouts of breast cancer. Her friend network extended far to include a remarkable contingent of smart and strong women of a certain age, who had shared journeys navigating through life’s trials, but they always found joy in ice cream dates, trips to the beach, or trips to some impressive garden or museum. These women friends kept an eye on each other and gave Martha tremendous support. Besides her family, these long-term female friends were the highlight of her life. She is survived by her brother, William “Bill” Aherin and sister-in-law, Mary Aherin of East Hampton, Mass.; her daughter, Samantha Horn of Readfield, son, J.T. Horn and daughter-in-law Suzanna Smith-Horn of Strafford, Vt.; and her grandchildren Konrad and Toby Olsen, also of Readfield. Martha requested that there be no wake or memorial service. Her ashes will be spread in the ocean at two of her favorite spots in Maine and Massachusetts. To leave a note of condolence or share a memory, please visit http://www.brackettfh.com The family requests that in lieu of flowers please consider a memorial gift to the Curtis Memorial Library 23 Pleasant St. Brunswick, ME 04011

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