Martina A. Quellmanndied at home in Vermont at the age of 94 with friends and Pitti Pat, her "grand-dog," at her side. Ms. Quellmann was born in Hamburg, Germany in 1922. Her father was a sea captain and her mother was a socially-conscious person. After her mother died, she was raised by her grandmother.

Martina completed nursing school, worked in hospitals during the war, and in 1945 rescued patients from a hospital near Berlin to protect them from the bombing. In 1946 she moved to Cuxhaven, at the North Sea where she served as a parish nurse for 12 years. She and her friend Ilse Winter immigrated to New York in 1958. After two years they moved to Thetford, leasing and then purchasing the farm on Sanborn Road, Thetford that they named Heuboden (meaning hayloft). Several generations of German relatives and friends visited there frequently. For years both Martina and Ilse worked at Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital and ran a riding stable at the farm. In 1993 they moved to Hanover; Ilse died soon thereafter.

Martina was the head nurse on the dermatology unit in Winifred Raven House for many years, retiring in 1984. During her nursing career Martina was active in the New Hampshire Nurses Association and other professional projects. During her retirement, she was an active member and President of the Woodstock Dog Club, President of Brook Hollow Home Owners' Association, and attended many cultural performances throughout the Upper Valley.

Martina was a life-long dog lover and was particularly fond of wire-haired dachshunds. She considered herself a "child of the sea" and took every opportunity to go to the coast or be on the ocean. She leaves behind two nephews and their families in Germany, her "adopted granddaughter" Jana Kieboam who brought delight into Martina's last several years, attentive friends, and caregivers who enabled her to die at home, as she wished.

A celebration of Martina's life will be held on January 21st at 11 a.m. in the Rand-Wilson Funeral Home on School Street in Hanover, NH. Martina requested that any remembrances be in the form of donations to the Humane Society of the Upper Valley.

Arrangements are under the direction of the Rand-Wilson Funeral Home of Hanover, NH.