Born March 26, 1953
Albany, N.Y.
Died Dec. 31, 2025
Colchester, Vermont
Details of services
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Lund Family Center in Burlington or a charity of your choice, especially those that help children and families.
Martha Boyce Colyer of Colchester, wife of Lawrence (Larry) Keyes died on Dec. 31, 2025 at home in the presence of her family.
Martha was born in Albany N.Y. She attended the Albany Academy for Girls.
She received a BA in Art from Elmira College, in Elmira New York where she met Larry. She completed an MA at the College of Saint Rose. After graduating she began her teaching career at the Bement school in Deerfield, Mass. and continued at the Montessori School of Albany. After a series of international adventures in the late 1970’s (midnight crossing from East Berlin through Checkpoint Charlie, and in Britain, a mistaken identity as a member of the Baeder-Meinhof gang) and travel (Britain, Holland, Germany) she married Larry to move to Montréal.
After three years in Québec, both were ready to return to the States, and they chose to move to Burlington, Vermont area where they made their home for the past 40 years. Martha taught Art at Richmond Elementary School for 10 years. She had a second career teaching basic skills to adult learners and New Americans at Vermont Adult Learning.
Martha was predeceased by her parents Elizabeth (Baggerly) and Paul Colyer.
She leaves her husband Larry Keyes, his brother Philip and Phil’s wife Laura and their children, Tor and Christopher. She leaves her sister Nancy Buckley and her Nancy’s children Peter, Elizabeth, David and Sarah and eight grand nieces and nephews. She also leaves her cousins Joanne, Betty, Liz and Andrea.
Martha and Larry were married for 43 years, and were together for much of 10 years prior to getting married. For Larry, Martha was his “Lebensgefährtin”, “the person with whom I traveled through life”.
Martha has many life-long friends from childhood and from teaching. Many are far away, but she maintained a regular correpondance with cards, calls and emails. Margaret Sansone, Michéle Dominy, Cassie Keith, Leslie Knauf, Carmine Sargent, Lee Hollister and many others.
The family would like to thank the staff of the University of Vermont’s Cancer Center, and UVM Hospice. A very special thanks to Margaret Sansone… who with Larry, took loving care of her during her last days.