Martha Rebecca Johnston Boyd, the third eldest of Clara Elizabeth O'Leary Johnston and Robert Earl Johnston, was born on January 31, 1922 at the home of her great uncle and aunt, Hugh and Annie Fletcher O'Leary on Beaverbrook Street in Fredericton. Martha was named after her grandmother, Martha Isabelle Fletcher O'Leary and her great aunt Annie Rebecca Fletcher O'Leary. Martha spent her childhood in Beaver Dam, where she received her education in the little one room schoolhouse. In earlier school years Martha did not attend school during January and February because the roads were not ploughed and even if they had been the school board could not afford to pay a teacher for those months. Martha finished school when she was seventeen. At a very young age, Martha learned to cook, bake, clean house, help her mother hook mats, quilt, knit, crochet and she even learned how to draw quilt designs. The family made their own fun, whether it was playing cards, Auction 45's, Five Hundred, Sixty-Three or Black Annie, checkers or whatever other games they had. They loved to go sliding and skating in the winter. Martha started her first job on October 2, 1940 at the Beaverbrook Residence. She was paid $9.00 per month, plus room, board and uniform. Then she went back to Fredericton and worked in several other places as a housekeeper. While working for the Globe Laundry, she got the opportunity to work at the veterinary lab cleaning vials and utensils. While staying at her Aunt Annie's boarding house, Martha met one of the young men who worked at the telephone company with her Uncle Ansel, Ron Boyd, who had been boarding there about six months before he got up the nerve to ask her out on a date. Ron and Martha took a lot of teasing, especially at the supper table from the other NB Tel men that boarded there. They were married on November 5, 1949 at St. Anne's Church in Fredericton. Martha worked at the lab until she was married but because of Ron's job they moved around the province for the first three years of their marriage. Finally they decided to settle down in Saint John. Ron still travelled quite a bit but Martha stayed at home to raise their two children: Rebecca and Malcolm. Martha was very active at St. Paul's (Valley) Church where she was a member of the ACW and worked with Little Helpers, and Girls Auxiliary. She and Ron enjoyed Square and Round dancing, Camping and travelling with their RV. Martha worked as a Red Cross Homemaker from 1972 to 1982, until they sold their home in Saint John to retire in Cambridge Narrows. She is survived by her husband of 60 years, Ronald Boyd, daughter, Rebecca Boyd Whittico and her son-in-law, Mathew Whittico of Connecticut; her son, Malcolm Boyd and her daughter-in-law, Marline Cormier-Boyd of Saint John; her brothers: Lewis (Bud) Johnston of Fredericton Junction and Earl Johnston of Bayswater NB; her sister, Carol Ann Johnston-Nixon of Sydney NS; three grandchildren: Thomas Whittico and Ellen and Laura Boyd; as well as several nieces and nephews. Martha was predeceased by three sisters: Elizabeth Gomke, Roberta Johnston and Patricia Johnston and by her brother, Arthur Johnston.