Obituary of Martha Brescia

Martha Therrien Brescia, 97, of Brookeville, Maryland, formerly a resident of Leisure World in Silver Spring, died on April 3, 2015 at her home at Marian Assisted Living. Born on October 24, 1917 in Highgate, Vermont, she was one of the seven children of Leopold P. Therrien and Marie Leda (Tremblay) Therrien. The family lived on a farm in Swanton, Vermont, where they survived the depression through their self-sufficiency. Martha entered the convent of the Sisters of the Holy Spirit after her completion of high school, and as a novitiate was sent with twenty-one other young nuns to finish her training in France on the very eve of the German occupation of France. In September of 1942 the novitiates were taken prisoner and removed to the town of Vittel, to a hotel compound then used as a holding camp for other civilian prisoners including scores of European Jews waiting for removal to extermination camps. While held at the Vittel camp, Martha took care of young Jewish children most of whom were later sent to Auschwitz. She and her colleagues were released in early 1944, pursuant to a prisoner exchange between the U.S. and Germany. Upon her return, Martha remained with the Order until 1969, when she left to teach math and physics in various high schools and colleges in the northeast. She had by then acquired a Bachelor's degree from Annhurst College, and two Master's degrees, one from the Catholic University in Washington, D.C. and the other from Brown University in Providence, R.I. After her departure from the Order, Martha married Dr. John Citandino in June of 1978. After his death in 1982, she met Dr. James S. Brescia, a widower and retired family physician, and they married and lived in Deerfield Beach, Florida until Dr. Brescia's death in November of 1995. After losing her beloved "Jim," Martha moved to Maryland where she continued to live until her death. She was a devoted Catholic, a generous supporter of Catholic causes, an avid reader, and the author of several books, at least one of which was published. Martha's sisters Veronica, Clementina, Teresa, and Elizabeth, and her brother Patrick predeceased her. She is survived by her sister Priscilla T. Demers, of Mount Pleasant, S.C.; her brother John Oliver Therrien, a resident of Columbia, CT; and scores of nieces, nephews, grandnieces, and grandnephews. She is also survived by Dr. Brescia's nephews and nieces, Dr. Cyrus Bacchi of Long Island, N.Y., Stephen Brescia of Montgomery, N.Y., Stacy Brescia-Spreer, of Montgomery, N.Y., James Bacchi, and Rosemarie Bacchi. A funeral will be held at Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church on the grounds of Leisure World, Silver Spring, MD on Friday, April 10th at 11 a.m., and interment will be beside the grave of the late Dr. Brescia in Montgomery, N.Y. at St. Mary's Cemetery, on Railroad Avenue, at 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 11th.