Martha Wasgatt (1908-2010)

FARMINGTON – A pioneer in the Head Start program, has died at the age of l0l. Martha Wasgatt, Farmington’s oldest citizen, passed away at the Pierce House in Farmington, her home for the past seven years, Sunday afternoon, September l9, 2010.

Miss Wasgatt had been a resident of Farmington since l953, when she came to teach child development and nutrition at the State Teachers College, now the University of Maine at Farmington. It was while at Farmington in the mid-l960s that she inaugurated the Head Start program, shortly after its initial funding by Congress. This occurred just after a year’s leave she spent studying under the nation’s leading proponent of the program, at the University of Maryland in l966.

Reflecting on the accomplishment in a 2004 interview, Miss Wasgatt observed, “Children were entering school behind the eight ball and nutritionally they were not up to par and those were two things in which I was very interested,” she said. When asked in June 2009 the secret to her personal longevity, Wasgatt, a master gardener, credited her love of gardening. “I didn’t stop doing it until two and one half years ago. I always had a garden except for in New York,” (where she lived for five years in the l930s).

Martha Wasgatt was born December 24, l908, in Rockland, Maine. She was the daughter of Rowland Wasgatt, a physician, and Maude Josephine Nickerson. After graduation from Rockland High School, Miss Wasgatt attended the University of Maine at Orono, from which she earned a B.S. degree in home economics in l93l. She held a masters degree in home economics from Columbia University, awarded in l94l and also pursued other graduate studies after that time at Iowa State University, Penn State University, the University of Maryland, and the University of Connecticut..

After five years as a dietitian at hospitals in New York City and White Plains, N.Y. in the l930s, she became director and instructor of the Penn Hall Junior College Home Economics Department in Chambersburg, Penn. from l936 until l953.

At Farmington, where she taught the remaining l9 years of her career until her retirement in l972, she was best known in the community as the director of the nursery school education program. One of the pre-school students in the program, now Maine’s Public Health Director Dr. Dora Mills, was at Wasgatt’s bedside at the time of her death along with Androscoggin Home Care and Hospice staff, and the Pierce House staff. She also taught foods, child development, human growth and development. After retirement as an associate professor emeritus, she continued to give guidance and advice to various Head Start programs both in Maine and elsewhere.

She was a member of the Maine and National Associations for Education for Young Children (NAEYC), Association for Childhood Education International (ACET), and National Committee for Early Childhood Education (OMEP). Locally, she was a member of the Maine Gardens Club Federation and the Mt. Blue Garden Club. Wasgatt was also an active member of the Monday Club, The Red School House Extension, DAR Colonial Daughters, Franklin County Retired Teachers Association, Mt. Blue area Garden Club, and Franklin Memorial Hospital Auxiliary. Martha was also a member of Delta Kappa Gamna, the Rockland Congregational Church, and was very active in the life of The Old South Church in Farmington.

Martha is survived by a nephew, Charles C. Wasgatt, of Melrose, Mass., and two nieces, Linda McBride Ferzetti of Laurel Springs, New Jersey, and Marcia W. Hoffer and her husband Kennth J Hoffer MD of Santa Monica, California. She is also survived by several great nieces and nephews including Matthew Wasgatt of Rockland, Rowland Wasgatt, III of Fort Collins, Colorado, Michael Wasgatt of Fontana, California, Mary W. Faulk of Ft. Collins, Colorado, Wesley Wasgatt of Eustis, Florida, Kevin Hoffer and Kristin Hoffer of Los Angeles, Jeffrey Hoffer of West Hill, California, Suzanne Ferzetti of Laurel Springs, New Jersey, Thomas Ferzetti of Marlton, New Jersey, and Gregory Ferzetti. Besides her many relatives she was also especially loved by her cat Lovey and the Tuesday Bingo crowd.

She was predeceased by her two sisters, Mary Wasgatt and Cynthia McBride, and one brother, long-time beloved Rockland physician, Wesley Wasgatt MD.

A memorial service will be held at the First Congregational Church on Main St. in Farmington on Monday, Sept. 27, 2010 at 1 p.m. A graveside service will follow on Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2010 at the Achorn Cemetery in Rockland, Maine. Arrangements under the direction of Adams~McFarlane Funeral & Cremation Services. Those wishing may send on-line condolences to the family at www.adamsmcfarlane.com