Ione M. Marston, 92
Ione Martin Marston, who owned and operated the Carousel Shop children’s clothing store in East Hampton Village in the early 1950s with her first husband, Benjamin M. Stoddard, died at home in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Saturday. She was 92.
Nursing school brought Miss Martin east from her hometown, Everett, Wash., where she was born on Feb. 13, 1925, to Lafe and Hilma Martin. She had four siblings, none of whom survive.
As a registered nurse, she worked in Manhattan at the old French Hospital on West 30th Street, which closed in 1977. At one point she worked for the actress Bette Davis, caring for her newborn daughter.
She met Mr. Stoddard in East Hampton. They were married on Aug. 6, 1949, at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Manhattan and lived in East Hampton for several years, first on Egypt Lane and later more or less around the corner on Fithian Lane. While here, she joined the Ladies Village Improvement Society and volunteered at Guild Hall.
With an eye for fashion, according to her family, she took over her mother-in-law’s, Lillian Stoddard’s, made-to-order dress business, Madeline Couture in Manhattan. One of her dressmakers, Ann Lowe, was to design and make Jacqueline Kennedy’s wedding gown.
After a divorce in the early ’70s, Mrs. Marston lived for a time in Bronxville, N.Y., but eventually moved to Palm Beach, Fla., where she remained in the fashion business, selling clothing and jewelry and becoming involved in interior decorating. She was a frequent bridge player and made many good friends in Florida, her family said.
She married Anthony H. Marston in 2001; he died in 2009 at the age of 99.
Mrs. Marston, who had been cared for by Julie Zaldivar of Port St. Lucie, Fla., for some time, leaves three children. They are Sharman Peddy and Steven Stoddard of East Hampton, and Blaine Stoddard of San Francisco. Four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren survive as well.
At her request, there was no formal funeral service. Memorial contributions have been suggested to Hospice of Palm Beach County, 5300 East Avenue, West Palm Beach, Fla. 22407.