Martha Warner Whitney had “no moss growing under her feet,” said her daughter. Always active, she helped others as a nurse and school psychologist and worked to improve Guilderland Center where she’d lived.

She died peacefully on Friday, Dec. 3, 2021, at the Daughters of Sarah Nursing Center in Albany. She was 91.

Born in Albany, she was the daughter of the late Clark F. Warner, and the late Florence Josephine (née Germaine) Warner.

“Martha had many interests and invested her time in the service of others through her career choices,” her family wrote in a tribute.

“She was outgoing and charming, and very gracious meeting strangers,” said her daughter, Lisa Whitney.

As a young woman, Mrs. Whitney trod the boards as an actress for a Boston theater company. She then began working as a registered nurse, but returned to college to get her master’s degree in psychology. Employed by the Board of Cooperative Educational Services as a school psychologist, her time was divided between the Menands and Duanesburg school systems.

“She loved protecting children and helping children and parents,” said her daughter. “She made a difference.”

Mrs. Whitney also enjoyed working as a Realtor for Doreen Ross Associates in Schenectady, as did her late husband, Harold Whitney. The couple had special license plates for their cars: One said SSSOLD and the other said 123SOLD.

After retiring from BOCES, Mrs. Whitney opened a small boutique for home and garden behind her house in Guilderland Center, called the Little Red Shop. The ads she created, which ran in The Altamont Enterprise, featured a character based on her sister who traveled the world procuring gifts to sell in the Little Red Shop.

Mrs. Whitney also volunteered to be a New York State Ombudsman for the nursing home in Guilderland, as a liaison between the state and the nursing home administration. “She was an extra pair of eyes,” her daughter said. “She would regularly check in with residents and administrators, and got close to some of them.”

“Community-based improvements were of great interest to her, and she lent her support to help install a sidewalk along Guilderland Center’s busy road,” her family wrote.

Mrs. Whitney was worried about kids riding bikes along Route 146, her daughter said, but what really got to her was seeing grandmas and young mothers pushing strollers along the busy road.

“Traffic just flew,” her daughter said. Mrs. Whitney was “delighted” when, after years of attending meetings and “keeping after the town,” sidewalks were installed in Guilderland Center.

Mrs. Whitney was an avid quilter and after the terrorists’ attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, when few people came to the Little Red Shop, Mrs. Whitney hosted a quilting group there for her friends. One of her quilts won a blue ribbon at the Altamont Fair.

“Many of her creative quilts are keeping friends and family members warm and happy,” her family wrote.

As a mother, Mrs. Whitney was “a busy bee,” her daughter said. “She always had a project going.” One of those projects was, with the help of her husband and son, Seth, restoring the dilapidated French’s Hollow Mill overlooking the Normanskill, turning it into a house to sell.

That project showcased Seth’s carpentry talents, said Lisa Whitney. “She believed in each of us and sparked our talents,” said her daughter. She credits becoming a musician herself to her mother’s support, having her take piano lessons in her youth.

Lisa Whitney concluded of her mother, “She was a real proponent of education and believing in your dreams. She taught us that, if you persevere, you can accomplish whatever you think you can.”
 

****

Martha Warner Whitney is survived by her sister, Suzette Nadeau, of Newark, New York; by her four children, Lisa Whitney (Tracy Smith) of Delanson, New York, Seth Whitney of Guilderland Center, Grace Whitney of Bridport, New York, and Jonathan Whitney (Doreen Walsh) of Watertown, Massachusetts as well as several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Her loving husband, Harold E. Whitney, died in 2007.

As per her wishes, she donated her body to the Anatomical Gift Program at Albany Medical College.

A small celebration-of-life lunch will be planned at a later date.

To leave a message of condolence for the family, please contact us through email at sacredpathreiki@gmail.com.

Memorial contributions may be made to any local food bank.

— Melissa Hale-Spencer