Patricia M. Thurber

Patricia Julianne Martin Skillas Thurber passed peacefully at her home in Nashua, NH on December 15, 2024, after a short period of declining health. She was 92.

Pat was born in Riverside, Ontario, Canada, the second of three children born to John Joseph Martin and Marie Desneiges Drouillard. Her father came from a large and boisterous American family who were active in the hotel and beverage business in Detroit, Michigan. His family moved to Canada during prohibition. Her mother belonged to a historic French Canadian seafaring family, originally from Brittany, France, who settled on the Detroit River in the mid-1600s. Pat’s maternal grandfather was the mayor of Riverside and her abiding interest in politics and social action might have been rooted in this early exposure to public life.

Pat excelled in school, skipping grades in elementary school, graduating with highest honors from St. Mary’s Academy Preparatory School in Windsor, Ontario at age 16, and attaining her Associate Teacher’s Degree in Music from the Ursuline School of Music and Arts at the same time. Pat went on to graduate from Marygrove College In Detroit, Michigan with a degree in Social Work and minors in Psychology and Sociology. In later years, Pat continued her education by attending Brandeis University, studying Community Social Problems, and the Radcliff Seminars Program.

Pat married her first husband, Charles W. Skillas, in 1953 and the young couple moved to California. Their first two children, Kathy and Michelle, were born there, and their son, Charles, was born a few years later in Indiana. Because of Charles’s congenital heart condition, the family moved to New Hampshire to be closer to Boston Children’s Hospital. Pat and Charles divorced in the mid-1960s.

In 1967, Pat became the first Nashua Director of Operation HELP – a locally based, Community Action Program for the Office of Economic Opportunity. This program began as a referral service linking the target community with various local agencies and organizations but expanded under her able leadership to include community organization, summer camps, daycare, adult education, elderly programs, housing, social services, employment assistance, fieldwork classes for local college Sociology Majors, and supervision of VISTA volunteers. Before leaving the program, Pat initiated and locally funded a proposal for a Helpmobile Center to service Nashua and the greater community.

Pat’s interests always included social justice, and she was involved in various community service boards and organizations throughout her life In Nashua, including the Nashua Children’s Home, the Norwell Home, Nashua Community Council, Nashua Human Services, Nashua Family Planning, United Way, Nashua Chamber of Commerce, Good Cheer, Nashua Junior Women’s Club, and the Nashua Theatre Guild. Pat was also keenly interested in historic preservation, restored several Nashua properties, and was a founding member of the Nashua Historic Commission. With a good eye for design and an uncanny knack for seeing the potential in rundown structures, Pat renovated eight buildings in New Hampshire and Florida.

In 1971, Pat married Davis P. Thurber, a local banker and Nashua native. The merged family brought together seven teenage children and gave Davis and Pat many interesting years of managing the intricacies of young adults. Their marriage lasted for almost 50 years until Davis died in 2021.

Pat loved New Hampshire and for years she and Davis divided their time between Nashua, the Lakes Region, and the NH Seacoast. In later years they also spent time on Sanibel Island and in Ft. Myers, Florida. A classical music lover and advocate for the arts, Pat was a member of the Big Arts scholarship committee and served on the Board, as well as avidly supporting The Music Festival on Sanibel.

Pat is survived by her daughters Kathy Davis (Bob Davis) and Michelle Earnest, stepchildren Shellburne Thurber, Steven Thurber (Deborah Thurber), and Matthew Thurber, daughters-in-law Mary Skillas and Beth Tierney, former daughters-in-law Carol Hills and Leslie Thurber, nephews Ramsay Thurber and Peter Houston, niece Lisa Campbell, grandchildren Anna Seabolt, Evan Davis, JP Earnest, Zach Earnest, Jeff Earnest, Maggie Camp, Kelsey Hunger, Meagan Miller, Davis C. Thurber, Ella Thurber, James Thurber, Tai Thurber, Day Thurber, as well as many great-grandchildren. Pat was predeceased by her older sister, Doreen, who died at the age of three, and her younger sister Clarisse in 2007. Pat’s son, Charles Martin Skillas, died in 2003, and her stepson Geof Thurber in 2019.

SERVICES: A Memorial Gathering for Patricia M. Thurber will be held in June 2025 for family and invited friends. Remembrances may be posted online through the Davis Funeral Home at https://www.davisfuneralhomenh.com In lieu of flowers, the family would be honored by donations to the Nashua Children’s Home, 125 Amherst St, Nashua, NH 03064, or visit them online at https://nashuachildrenshome.org. The Davis Funeral Home (603)883-3401 “ONE MEMORY LIGHTS ANOTHER.”