Marta Bassoi Nolan, of Plattsburgh, NY, died peacefully on August 22, 2014, with her family at her side in Whittier Rehabilitation & Skilled Nursing Center, in Ghent, NY. Born on August 1, 1921, in San Cassiano di Controni, Italy, she was the daughter of the late Angelo and Concetta Bassoi. She came to New York City as a child, where her father had set up a plaster casting business. Marta studied fashion design and marketing in high school in NYC. She held myriad jobs during the Great Depression and World War II years, including at the Empire State Building, as a dispatcher at the Greyhound Bus Company, and at Chock Full O' Nuts, the popular luncheonette. There the beautiful young waitress met the handsome young dishwasher who became the love of her life, James R. Nolan. During World War II, they wrote every day while Jim served his country in the U.S. Army in the Pacific Theatre. Jim and Marta wed on Feb. 3, 1946, and started their married life in Connecticut and then the Inwood area of NYC. The couple raised their three daughters first in NYC, then Peekskill, NY; Ithaca, NY; Yellow Springs, Ohio; and finally Plattsburgh, NY. In Ithaca, Marta worked as a hostess at the elegant old Ithaca Hotel, where international dignitaries stayed while visiting Cornell. In Yellow Springs, Ohio, she worked in the public library where her love of knowledge, literature, and people served her well. In 1967, the Nolans finally settled in the North Country of New York State, as Jim continued his career as a scientific researcher and professor at SUNY Plattsburgh. Marta enjoyed being part of the college and community where should would live for 44 years. In Plattsburgh, she worked as a Welcome Wagon Hostess, at Rulf's Orchards, and at U.S. Immigration and Border Services as a translator. Her library experience took her to Clinton County Board of Cooperative Educational Services, where she enjoyed her career there as a library clerk until she retired. She was active in the League of Women Voters and the Italian-American Club. She was also a lifelong lover of opera, having attended many performances of the Metropolitan Opera in NYC in her youth. She loved living in a college town, enjoying the cultural events and being around the youthful energy of the students. After her retirement, she volunteered in the costume department of the SUNY Plattsburgh theater department for many years. The staff kept trying to hire her full-time, but she didn't want to be tied down in her busy retirement, during which time she also volunteered as a docent at the Rockwell Kent Museum at SUNY Plattsburgh. Marta made friends wherever she went; she attracted people with her natural generosity and warmth, as well as her candid and forthright style of communication. She opened her heart and home to all, and there really were no strangers in her life. She greeted all her daughters' and grandchildren's friends with big hug and her famous lasagna or spaghetti and meatballs. Marta and Jim would often have his students over for barbeques, parties, or just coffee and company. She would invite international students who were lonely or far from their home country for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner during college breaks. She was free-spirited and one of a kind and will be sorely missed, but leaves a legacy of her expansive, engaging personality, warm-heartedness, and humor to everyone her life touched. She is survived by her three daughters, Patricia Nolan, Liesa Betsy (Paul) Pedersen, Teresa (Kurt) Barensfeld; her three grandchildren, Tyrone James Coughlin, Marta Lenore Barensfeld, and Owen Paul Barensfeld; sister-in-law Kathleen Nolan Dunn; cousin Jean Berechid; and many nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her husband James R. Nolan and her sister Liliana Bassoi Romero. Funeral Services are Thursday, September 4, at 1:00 pm, at the Blessed John XXIII Newman Center, Plattsburgh, NY, with a reception at her daughter's home in Plattsburgh immediately following. Interment is Friday, September 5, at 2:30 pm, at the Gerald B. H. Solomon Saratoga National Cemetery in Schuylerville, NY, where she will join her beloved Jimmy. If you would like to make a donation in her memory, the family suggests The Community Hospice Foundation, 295 Valley View Blvd., Rensselaer, NY 12144, http://www.communityhospice.org/index.php/donate/ . Arrangements have been entrusted to the French, Gifford, Preiter & Blasl Funeral Home, Chatham, NY. To convey a condolence visit frenchblasl.com.