Mrs. Martha “Marty” Anne Ahearn, 74, of Amelia Island, passed away on Sunday morning, Aug. 21, 2016, at Community Hospice’s Warner Center for Caring in Fernandina Beach.
Born on Nov. 26, 1941, in Endicott, N.Y., she was the eldest of four children born to the late Ruth Ann Scranton Norton and William Norton.
Mrs. Ahearn graduated from Union-Endicott High School. After high school she graduated from the State University of New York at Albany in 1963 with a bachelor’s in English and worked toward her master’s in library science at SUNY Geneseo. She then worked as a school librarian before marrying Robert Ahearn in 1965.
They relocated in 1970 with their two children to Atlanta, where they became parishioners at St. Jude the Apostle Church in Sandy Springs, Ga. After many years of vacationing on Amelia Island with their family, Marty and Bob happily retired there in 1994. She was a parishioner at St. Michael Catholic Church, Fernandina Beach.
Marty was an avid reader, and enjoyed playing mahjong and going to the local theater with friends. Her favorite activity, however, was enjoying the beach with her family and grandchildren.
In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her loving husband of 48 years, Bob.
Mrs. Ahearn leaves behind her two sisters, Kathy Korniak of Gainesville, Ga., and Mary Hassler and husband Ted of Gainesville; one brother, William Norton of Marietta, Ga.; her two children, including daughter, Maureen Cully and her husband, Mike, of Alpharetta, Ga., and son, Robert Ahearn Jr. of Jackson Hole, Wyo.; and her grandchildren, Katherine Cully and Michael Cully.
A memorial Mass will be celebrated Saturday, Sept. 3, at 10:30 a.m. at St. Michael Catholic Church in Fernandina Beach with Fr. Jose Kallukalam, celebrant. The family will receive friends following Mass in the church hall.
Memorial contributions may be made in her memory to Catholic Charities or Marist School.