Perry Van Rensselaer Skinner Martin

Perry Van Rensselaer Skinner Martin spent 70 summers on Long Lake in Bridgton, moving to Maine year-round in 2020. She loved the lake and was known for her long daily swims. She also enjoyed gardening (especially daffodils and colorful flowers), tennis, poetry, nature and reading. She enjoyed participating in the Four on the Fourth, often coming in first in her age group when she was in her 80s.Her first husband, Ernest Oliver Martin, was a minister and the family had to relocate frequently. Consequently, Bridgton became the family home for them and their six children, David, Paul, Ruth, Rachel, Benjamin, and Jenny. They were also often joined at their lake home by Perry’s brother, Charles Wickham Skinner, her sister, Carol Skinner Lawson, and their families. Perry married her second husband, Dirk Spruyt, the day before her 80^th birthday in 2006.

Perry graduated from Radcliffe College in 1947 and later earned her master’s degree in counseling from Northeastern and her Ph.D. in Psychology from University College in Los Angeles, Calif., practicing individual, couples, and group psychotherapy for many years.