REM Award Honorees (2016) — Martha Patterson (Kotlas Connection)
Martha (Coury) Patterson has been active in the Kotlas – Waterville Area Sister City Connection since 1999, serving as co-chair for four years in the organization. She participates in organizing and implementing visits of the various Kotlas delegations and delights in teaching Russian cooking to the students in the Greater Waterville Area during the Russian Sampler held annually at Colby College.
Martha traveled to Kotlas as a good will ambassador in 2003 to celebrate the 95th anniversary of Kotlas and went back in 2015 to participate in the celebration of 25 years of the sister city relationship. Later, Mayor Andrei Bralnin and his duma came to Waterville to continue the celebration of 25 years of people-to-people diplomacy. Martha and her husband hosted several delegations that came from Kotlas at their home and at their camp and had the pleasure of hosting a student from the Kotlas area for a year when her children were in high school.
Martha grew up in “The County” and graduated from St. Joseph’s College with a BA degree in biochemistry. She received her MT (ASCP) from Yale University. All of her 50 working years were dedicated to the Laboratory Department at Seton, Thayer, and MaineGeneral as a Medical Technologist. She served as a board member and treasurer of the American Society of Clinical Pathology.
Active in the Waterville Community, Martha has served on the board at Mount Merici, the YMCA, and the Alfond Center. She serves her parish of Corpus Christi as a Lector and Eucharistic Minister. Martha and her husband Neal have two children, Robert and Mary, who are both college graduates and make them proud. While her children were still in school, she volunteered as PTO president for their schools, organizing Harvest Fairs and Project Graduations.
Among Martha’s other interests are languages, music, water skiing, swimming, kayaking, and gardening. As a teenager in her hometown of Fort Fairfield, Martha served as church organist and choir director and as an adult she served for a time as organist at St. Joseph’s Maronite Parish in Waterville. She enjoys entertaining at her camp in Rome, ME with her relatives and friends. Martha immerses herself in culture and language when traveling. She has traveled to Russia, Canada, Hawaii, Alaska, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Greece, and France. Someday, she hopes to visit her cousins in Lebanon and see where her grandparents lived. Martha was brought up in a multilingual home, where her grandparents spoke Arabic, French, and English.
Nominated by her fellow members, Martha humbly serves the Kotlas Connection and the community with enthusiasm.
For more information about the Kotlas Connection, visit its website.