Martin Brady Stollar
December 17, 1960 – October 23, 2022
If Marty was writing this, it would simply say: Thanks for a great time, make sure you enjoy your life and hug your kids. Catch you later.
However, since I get the privilege of writing this, I will share my view of this wonderful man and his life.
Marty was born on December 17, 1960, to John Andrew Stollar and Eleanor (Brady) Stollar whom he loved dearly. He grew up in Exeter, the youngest of the Stollar clan and enjoyed life playing sports, fishing, camping, and catching anything he could find in the Exeter River along with many good friends that he cherished for his entire life.
Marty attended Exeter schools, starting with St. Michaels for a short time until his mom to transferred him to the public schools. He went to Exeter Elementary, EAJHS, and graduated in 1979 from Exeter High School. Again, Marty made many lifelong friends. He loved sports and played football, basketball, and baseball. He also graduated from New Hampton after a post-graduate year and then went on to attend UNH until he decided to follow his true passion of carpentry and travelling.
He wouldn’t want me to describe him in this way, but he was incredibly talented. He was an asset to every sports team that he played on and a problem solver that could build or fix almost anything. He built and created so many beautiful things from houses to his special woodworking that added so much character, quality, and love to his projects. He left his mark on so many places in the seacoast area. He also felt very lucky that he enjoyed his work so much. He was always planning and excited about the next project that he and Danny MacDougall would take on.
Family is incredibly important to him. He loved his time with his parents and when he had the opportunity to build a house on the family property, he didn’t hesitate and in 1992 built our family home. We enjoyed our time with his parents and family, having many great times at the Stollar Compound.
His biggest blessings came with the addition of his two sons. Brady came in 1998 as a bit of a surprise followed by James in 2002, who was an even more of a surprise… but easily the most wonderful additions to our family. He loved being a very involved father. He supported and attended all the sporting events that Brady was a part of. He was equally supportive of James with his love of animals (of every kind!) and his passion for photography. He could not have been any prouder of these two boys. One of his greatest joys was having Brady join his construction business and being able to teach him all about his passion of building and wood working.
Marty will be missed by so many good people that were so important to him. I consider myself the luckiest, spending over 33 years of love and fun with him whether it was working on his current projects, spending time with the kids and dogs at our special place on Loon Pond out in Fremont, going to Dead shows, dancing to Jimmy Buffett, our vacations at Jibba’s camp on Winnipesaukee or hosting a family holiday or party, life was good. Brady and James were fortunate to have such a wonderful father and will miss him terribly.
His family was also a big part of his life including wonderful sisters MaryAnn Harris (her husband and great guy and friend David) in England, Rita, Kathleen, Irene (her husband and another incredible friend Brian), and brother John (Judy) of Arizona. His nieces and nephews, Edie and Gary Deal, Matt Pottle (Katie), Jennifer Pottle (Our buddy Phil), Diane McCain, Brianna Lewis (Zach), William and Silas Harris both of England, Sarah (Sean) Yates, their son Declan and Lindsay (Dan) Slover along with their kids, John and Clara all of AZ. Marty will especially miss his grand niece Blake and grand nephews, Brian, and Theo. Marty is also survived by one Aunt, Rita Clark and many cousins and their families.
Marty was looking forward to reuniting with his parents, sister Ellen Deal (her husband and another great brother-in-law Chet), his fishing buddy and brother-in-law Mark Pottle, two very special nephews BJ and Andrew McCain, also probably waiting with a glass of wine will be his mother-in-law, Joan Eustis. He was predeceased by his older brother, Andy.
It wouldn’t be right not to include our family dogs that Marty has adored. Ruddles was his first born, followed by Iris who both probably can’t be happier than to be together with him again. Violet, Scarlet and our newest addition, Kujo will miss their walks and snacks with him. James’ three goats, Tobey and the Little Ones will miss their daily visits and treats as well. Willow, the cat, maybe not so much, they had more of a love/hate thing going on!
Special thanks to all that helped us with love and support through our journey. Our entire family, especially Irene who was incredible with her love and Wentworth Douglass Hospital connections, the Seacoast Cancer Center, Mass General Brigham, and Rockingham Hospice with our nurse David were all wonderful. Our friends, Jeff, Andrea and Madison Morris, the Jordan & Dadmun families, the MacDougall clan and of course Luis, our private chef, the whole McCain crew, the Beanes, Steve Ott with Remick and Gendron and Dan Stockbridge all helped so much along the way.
Cancer sucks. There has only been one good thing that we discovered, it makes you appreciate what you have and enjoy the moment. Our family is so thankful for the time that we got to share with Marty. We do hate cancer and suggest the following possibility for a memorial donation. Donations in memory of Martin B. Stollar can be sent to the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation c/o Jody V. Latvis Endowed Fund for Ovarian Cancer Research, Elm & Carlton Streets, Buffalo NY 14263. The earnings from this fund's principle balance (donations) will be used in perpetuity to develop new ways to detect, treat, and cure cancer.
So, in keeping with his wishes, there will be no formal funeral services. We will be planning “A Party for Marty” to celebrate his life once our tears have dried and we can smile and share all the good times. We’ll send out details once we figure it out.
Photos ~
We will be adding photos to this page and putting together a DVD. If you have one to share, please email it to:
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul
~Grateful Dead
