Jane Coffin Martin, 72, died April 26 at home after a year long battle with cancer.

A seventh generation Vermonter, she was born January 10, 1949, daughter of Wallace Coffin and Arlene (Jillson) Coffin.

She grew up in the village of Woodstock, attending elementary and junior high school on South Street and graduating from Woodstock Union High School in 1967. She married Sheldon Martin in 1967, and they lived in West Woodstock before building a home in Bridgewater Chateauguay and moving there. After managing a business in Woodstock East for some years, they purchased a home in Zolfo Springs, Florida, where they spent the winter months, returning to Vermont in March for their own maple sugaring operation and for landscaping work in the summer.

Jane was a sports enthusiast—for many years a fan of the Red Sox and the New England Patriots and rarely missed any games that her grandchildren played from the ages of 5 until present college games. She had a passionate interest in all kinds of music ranging from live Québécois to the choral works of J. S. Bach and Justin Beiber. She also loved literature and was an avid reader of contemporary fiction. She had a great capacity for wonder and a love of life that expressed itself in a lively and infectious sense of humor, a devotion to family and to old friends, a regular, yearly attendance at Tunbridge World's Fair, and an interest in the natural world, particularly as experienced in the large tract of land in Chateauguay that she and Sheldon shared with a variety of wildlife.

She is survived by her husband, Sheldon Martin of Bridgewater ; a son, Joel Martin (and wife Becky) of Naples, Florida; a daughter, Julie Martin (and partner John) of West Woodstock; her twin brothers—with whom she shares a birthday: Howard Coffin of Montpelier, and Bruce Coffin (and wife Maria) of Woodstock and Hamden, Connecticut; two grandsons, Brian Martin and Dylan Kuhn; a granddaughter, Sadie Kuhn, and a number of nieces and nephews and cousins.

A family celebration of Jane's life will be held at a later date. Donations in her name may be sent to Bayada Foundation PO Box 1590 Norwich, VT 05055.