Martha A. Lacy

MARTHA A LACY

Albany, NY

The following is an auto-biography Martha wrote for her 60th High School Reunion in 2007: “ life began December 13, 1928, when I was born to Arch Lacy and Margaret Davey Lacy, the seventh of their ten children. I grew up on a farm approximately three miles outside the village of Keeseville, NY, and about two miles from the shores of Lake Champlain. My father was a farmer and my mother was a nurse who sometimes worked other jobs. My parents worked very hard, my father tilling the land we lived on and my mother working in the Keeseville Post Office and as a private duty nurse. Except for milk, which my father sold, our farm was mainly subsistence. My parents were staunch Roman Catholics and we faithfully attended church services at the Immaculate Conception Church in Keeseville. My father was an active member of the Holy Name Society and my mother was equally active in the Rosary Society.

“My early education, grades 1-6, took place in a one-room schoolhouse located across the field from our farm house. For grades 7 and 8, I attended McAuley Academy in Keeseville. My high school days (daze) were spent in the hallowed halls of Keeseville Central School.

“In August 1947, following graduation from high school, I entered the Sisters of Mercy in Tarrytown, NY, where I remained for 22 years. During those 22 years I obtained a Bachelor of Science in Education from Fordham University and I taught elementary school for most of those years. My teaching career took me from Keeseville to the Bronx, Plattsburgh, Rouses Point, Brasher Falls, and Saranac Lake. I taught also in Harlem and Spanish Harlem. In June 1969, after teaching 6th grade for three years in Saranac Lake, I became aware that my life was becoming meaningless. At the completion of that school year, I left the Sisters of Mercy and moved to Albany where I remain today.

“A job! A job! Oh yes, I needed a job! In July 1969, I obtained a job as an Adoption Caseworker at the Albany County Department of Social Services. In that capacity I had the good fortune of placing children (mainly infants) into good homes. After about 3 or 4 years in the Adoption Unit, I transferred to a Foster Care Unit where I was responsible for permanency planning for children under my supervision. In June 1988, I applied for and obtained the job of Director of a newly mandated Independent Living Program. The purpose of this program was to insure that adolescents who were leaving foster care or who were aging out of the system had those skills necessary for them to successfully make it on their own after they left our supervision. I worked diligently at this job for five years and on July 31, 1993, I retired.

“For five years following retirement, I had the good fortune of baby-sitting my niece's two school-aged children. When they no longer needed a sitter, I was unemployed once again. I responded to an ad placed in the newspaper by BOCES for substitute teachers. I was hired and for the next nearly three years I went from school to school subbing for many teachers. Eventually that job was neither interesting nor rewarding, so I retired from BOCES. Currently I keep myself busy monitoring Civil Service Exams, taking care of my house, and caring for my five cats and one dog.

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Martha lived at her home at 18 Woolard Avenue, Albany, NY, until she moved to Our Lady of Mercy Life Care Center in Guilderland, NY, in 2020. Martha passed away peacefully on May 11, 2026.

Martha was predeceased by her parents Archibald Lacy and Margaret Davey Lacy, and her siblings Helen Lacy, Ruth (Nick) Lord, Pat (Tony) Falco, James (Josephine Matthews, Irene “Terry” Fox, Bonnie Baucom) Lacy, Betty (Rudy) Poselovic, Jeanne (Al) Pramaggiore, Jack (Connie LeClair) Lacy, and Tom Lacy. She is survived by her sister Virginia (John) Egan and many, many nieces and nephews.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10:30 a.m. on Monday, May 18, 2026, at the Parish of Mater Christi at 40 Hopewell Street, Albany, NY 12208. Because Martha donated her body to science, her burial will take place at a later date at the Immaculate Conception Church in Keeseville, NY. A celebration of life will follow her burial.

In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation in Martha’s memory to the Mohawk Hudson Humane Society at 3 Oakwood Avenue, Albany, NY 12204.