Martha J. Mitchell

Martha Jean Mitchell, 93, of Lincoln, MA, passed away at home on April 16, 2026. She was the daughter of Martha Howard Mitchell and John Morgan Mitchell. 

In her own words from December, 2012:

In the 1700’s my Episcopal ancestors were sent to northwestern Virginia to establish a church. In 1862 that area became the state of West Virginia, where I was born (Fairmont). I lost my father when I was three when my four grandparents first started to include me in all of their travels. When I was five, I had my first seaplane ride to the Bahamas. The round trip from Miami Beach cost five dollars on a Pan American Clipper. So began my life of travel.

During high school summers I traveled by car with a classmate and her parents across the northern United States to Orcas Island, Washington…an amazing way to see America. After graduation (Grier School, Tyrone, PA) my Mother took me to Europe…the first of many trips.

When I finished my education at Tufts University, I worked as a high school Physical Education teacher in Newton, MA, then in Denver, Washington, DC and Concord, MA. The summers off enabled me to travel, by train whenever possible. I’ve taken the Orient Express, the Blue Train in South Africa, and the train across the east coast of China, Korea, Thailand, and across Canada to Montreal.

I returned to West Virginia University for graduate work in counseling and school administration, then returned to Concord Academy to be Dean of Students, coming inside from the fields of play, although I stayed on the court as tennis coach.

I’ve made several trips to China including a three-week train trip in 1982 with my mother and Terry Sheahan. During my sabbatical from CA, I toured the South Pacific, making 27 stops, some for an overnight, some for a few days. We visited many World War II sites that I remembered hearing about on the radio as a child.

After all these miles around the world, Martha was uniquely qualified to take a dream job as a travel agent at Crimson Travel in Cambridge, MA where, for years, she booked itineraries for top clients in and around Boston. Travels with Terry Sheahan included spring in St. Barts, often Bermuda in the fall, playing a variety of golf courses in between. I remember a special highlight on a wonderful UK tour she planned for us in 1981 when we watched the smoke from fires on the high places move up along Scotland’s western shore signaling the wedding of Prince Charles and Diana. Thousands of pictures, slides and film provide a colorful history of her long life. Martha has asked for her camera as she packs for her last trip--my bet is home to West Virginia, on those country roads John Denver sang about, a song Martha requested whenever there was someone to play it.  Godspeed my dearest Friend, - Susan

Martha’s burial service is planned for Friday, April 24th at 3:30 pm in Lincoln Cemetery, 44 Lexington Road, Lincoln. 

Arrangements have been entrusted to Dee Funeral Home & Cremation Service of Concord.