MELBOURNE, Fla. – Martha McCracken Howard, 88, died July 9, 2007. Martha was born Sept. 27, 1919, in Shanghai, China, where her father served as a missionary doctor and dean of St. John’s Medical College. She graduated from Shanghai-American School in 1936 and came to the United States for college, first graduating from Colby Junior College, New London, N.H., and then from Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, N.Y., in 1940. In 1941, she married Calvin D. MacCracken, son of the Vassar president. After first living in Schenectady, N.Y., they settled in Tenafly, N.J., in 1949. For many years she spent summertime in Corn-wall, Conn. She was an active tennis player and engaged in volunteer work with the Tenafly Presbyterian Church and the Junior League at Englewood Hospital. They had four children. After their marriage ended in 1969, she obtained a degree in physical therapy at Columbia University and worked for many years at Har-lem Hospital. In 1976, she married Capt. Richard Howard and settled in New London, N.H., where she became active in her local church and was president of Church Women United of New Hampshire. In 1995 she published her eldest sister’s memoirs about their father’s career, entitled Mission to Shanghai: The Life of Medical Service of Josiah C. McCracken. Her China connections were a major source of joy and friendship. After the death of her second husband in 1997, she moved to Bangor, in 2000, to be near her daughter, Joan, and then in 2004 to Melbourne, Fla., near her other daughter, Karen. Her family and friends will remember her for her positive attitude, her incredible energy, her twinkling eyes and smile, and her loving, caring and ever generous spirit. She was predeceased by her husbands and by her seven siblings. She is survived by her four children, Michael MacCracken, Ph.D. of Bethesda, Md., Dr. Joan MacCracken Holmberg of Brooksville, Karen McCahill of Indialantic, Fla., and Mark MacCracken of New York City; nine grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. She is also survived by three stepchildren and six step-grandchildren from her second marriage. A memorial service for Martha will be held at Crossroads Community Church, Melbourne, Fla. A burial service will be held in September in New Hampshire, where she will be buried next to her brother, Dr. Josiah C. McCracken Jr. in Center Sandwich, N.H. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Crossroads Community Church, 2436 Croton Road, Melbourne, FL 32935 or Colby-Sawyer College, New London, NH 03257.
MARTHA MCCRACKEN HOWARD
