CARMEL – Marcia passed peacefully March 5, 2005, in her own home after a long journey with cancer. Marcia was born March 5, 1940, in Gardner, Mass., to Alice Inez Gonyou Harris and Vernon Denzel Harris Marcia defined her life by the roles through which she served others: daughter, sister, wife, mother, grandmother, church leader, generous friend and respected nurse. Service was her pleasure and her passion. She earned a dual nursing and teaching degree from Burbank Hospital-Fitchburg State College in 1962. She began nursing and instructing at Mount Auburn Hospital, Cambridge, Mass. “On a dark and stormy night,” Marcia’s windshield wipers broke as she was returning from a late night shift at the hospital. The driving rain forced her to seek help at the nearest gas station. The attendant that evening was Joseph Partridge, a rough and worldly young man fresh out of the Navy. He and Marcia hit it off and were married on April 3, 1965. Marcia and Joe moved their family to Carmel, in 1978. After more than 10 years as a work-at-home mother, Marcia resumed her career as an ICU nurse at the James A. Taylor Osteopathic Hospital in Bangor from 1981 until it closed in 1989. Later that year, Marcia began as an ICU nurse at Sebasticook Valley Hospital in Pittsfield. She rounded out her nursing career by developing and staffing SVH’s Cardiac Rehabilitation program. She retired in 2003. A woman of deep faith, Marcia also served her community by volunteering for nearly 30 years as a Sunday school teacher, active committee member, deaconess and trustee for the Carmel Union Congregational Church. She loved her church and her church family deeply. Most important to Marcia was her family. She loved spoiling her two grandchildren and shared with others often her pride in her own two children. She and her husband of 40 years were looking forward to spending their retirement traveling cross-country in an RV, summering at Popham beach and reading. Marcia is survived by her husband, Joseph Partridge of Carmel; her son, Derek Partridge, his wife, Stephanie, and their children, Reagan and Grady of Bangor; her daughter, Deanna Partridge, also of Bangor; her younger brother, Lloyd Harris and his wife, Christine, of Leominster, Mass.; treasured friends, Iris, Maria, Janet, Kathy, Nancy, and JoAnne; and many grateful patients and their families. A gathering of remembrance will be held 6-8 p.m. Friday, March 11, at Brookings-Smith, 133 Center St., Bangor, where funeral services will be held 10 a.m. Saturday, March 12, with Pastor Burt D. Williams, pastor of the Carmel Union Congregational Church officiating. The family invites relatives and friends to share conversation and refreshments at 31 Fern St., Bangor, following the services. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Mabel Wadsworth Women’s Health Center in Bangor, or New Hope Hospice in Eddington.
MARCIA LEE (HARRIS) PARTRIDGE
