Mary P. Hart, 96, of Bay Street in Claremont, died Saturday afternoon, July 12, 2008 at the Haven Health Center of Claremont.  She was born in Mt. Holly, VT on October 21, 1911 the daughter of Joseph and Rose (Stabile) Pastore and had resided in Claremont most of her life.  Mrs. Hart was a communicant of St Mary’s Church and a member of the Emblem Club and the Women’s Club.  She was an avid contract bridge player and reader, loved to make fancy desserts and do fancy stitching and cutwork.  She retired in 1991 from C & S Wholesale Grocers where she worked as a bookkeeper for fifteen years and had worked with her husband at Bud’s Little Store on Pleasant Street for fifteen years and prior to that she worked at Bucko’s Pharmacy and Houghton and Simonds.  She was the widow of Francis E. “Bud” Hart whom she married in 1934 and he died Nov. 1, 1973.  She was also predeceased by a son, Robert D. Hart who died July 29, 1996; two sisters, Elena Pastore on Jan. 6, 2001 and Josephine Gaydo on May 9, 1995; three brothers, Ralph Pastore on Jan. 9, 1976, Benjamin Pastore on Nov. 24, 2003 and Jerry Pastore on Apr. 26, 1994.

The surviving family includes one daughter, Frances Routhier and her husband, Guy of Manchester; five grandchildren, Karen Diggins, Susan LeHoullier, Anne Crooker, Judith Routhier and Matthew Routhier, five great-grandchildren; two sisters,  Carmelle Paton of Claremont and Jane Springer of Windsor, VT and several nieces and nephews.

Friends may call at the Stringer Funeral Home, 146 Broad Street in Claremont on Tuesday evening from 6 to 8 PM.

Funeral services will be held Wednesday morning, July 16^th at Eleven O’clock at the Funeral Home with Rev. Father Shawn M. Therrien, Pastor, of St Mary’s Church, officiating.  Interment will follow in the West Claremont Burial Grounds in Union Cemetery.

The family suggests that donations may be made in her memory to the Connecticut Valley Home Care/Hospice, 958 John Stark Highway, Newport, NH 03773.