Mary Stewart Hockmeyer

SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – Mary Stewart Hockmeyer passed away on Dec. 7, 2022 in San Rafael, Calif., where she had relocated in 2018 from Falmouth. She was 85 years old.

Mary was born on April 3, 1937, in Boston, Mass., the daughter of Charles A. Stewart, Jr. and Louise Kidder Stewart. She spent her early years in Weston, Mass., and graduated from Concord Academy and Garland Junior College. She later earned a Master of Social Work degree from Boston College. During the years of her marriage to Albert Morrison, Mary and her family lived in Massachusetts, North Carolina, New York, and New Jersey, and for several years in Germany.

In the early 1970s she relocated to Yarmouth with her children. When the children were grown, Mary moved to Portland where she was a social worker for the Southern Maine Agency on Aging until her retirement in 1988.

Mary bought a home in Freedom Village, N.H., in 1985 and spent most weekends there, eventually making it her permanent home. Freedom was a familiar and beloved place where the Kidder family had owned property for years, and Mary enjoyed the company of many aunts, uncles, and cousins on Scarboro Road and Loon Lake.

In 1987, she opened The Freedom Gallery, a seasonal shop in her detached barn, which featured fine art and crafts created by local artists. For five years it became a gathering place for neighbors and visitors who savored Mary’s sweet treats and coffee and enjoyed conversation, stories, and laughs all summer long.

Mary was an active member of the Freedom community for as long as she lived there. In 1990, Mary married Eastham Hockmeyer of Westford, Mass. and Jackson, N.H. When she became chair of the Old Home Week Committee, the group organized traditional OHW activities and created new ones such as the opening evening fundraising party on her spacious lawn on the Friday before the parade, and the picket-painting contest along her fence. Mary was the annual Parade Marshal in 2015. She was a Library Trustee, a Freedom Village Store volunteer, a Deacon at the Freedom Christian Church, and a welcoming host at many events in her home or barn. She and Eastham also reached out to other organizations and were committed Meals-on-Wheels drivers for Ossipee Concerned Citizens.

After Eastham’s death in 2012, Mary continued to live in the village and to spend happy summer days at the family property in Milbridge. She moved in 2016 to Oceanview at Falmouth, a retirement community, and then in 2018 to San Rafael for health reasons to be nearer her daughters.

Mary was preceded in death by her parents; and her brother, Charles “Tim” Stewart.

She is survived by her daughter, Terry Boyer and her husband, Mark, of San Rafael, Calif., her son Al “Scott” Morrison and his wife, Sandy, of Phoenix, Ariz., her daughter Sarah James and her husband, Robert, of Piedmont, Calif.; her brother, Robert Stewart and his wife, Janet, of Cumberland Foreside, her sister-in-law, Mary “Howsie” Stewart, of Falmouth; her grandchildren Charlie, Alexandra and Max Morrison, Thomas and John Boyer, and Caroline and Stewart James; and five nieces and nephews. Mary also leaves her extended family and many Freedom friends who fondly remember her and her contributions to the town.

Throughout her life, Mary displayed a sense of bright spirit and bold adventure. She traveled extensively around the world, including a safari in Africa, an expedition to Antarctica, and a climb to Machu Picchu in 2016 at the age of 78. She had an ease of communicating with everyone she met. Mary enjoyed keeping up with her family as it grew, often hosting extended communal gatherings at the Tanque Verde dude ranch outside Tucson, Ariz.

A celebration of her life will take place on Saturday, May 6 from 2-4 p.m. at the Hilltop Community Room of the Hilltop Lodge at Oceanview, 20 Blueberry Lane, Falmouth. Attendees are requested to wear something purple in Mary’s memory.

The family suggests that memorial gifts be made to organizations that were important to Mary, including the Freedom Historical Society and the Freedom Library. The family thanks the caregivers and staff of Long Life Living and By the Bay Hospice in San Rafael for the loving care they showered on Mary.