Longtime Provincetown resident Martin L. Cordeiro, most recently of Waite, Maine, died peacefully at the Calais Community Hospital in Calais, Maine on Feb. 28, 2024 with his niece, Rachel Hayden, at his side. The cause was cancer, which had been diagnosed just two months earlier. He was 79.
The son of Henry and Margaret (Nelson) Cordeiro, Martin was born in Wareham on Oct. 28, 1944. He grew up in Provincetown, first in his grandmother’s house on Pearl Street and then in a house at the end of Winthrop Court.
As a boy, Rachel said, Martin “loved always to be outside, and he hated school.” As was the practice among his generation of kids, he dove for change thrown from the ferries, and instead of going to school he spent many days on the beach.
He loved to hunt and fish, and he formally left school at 16. “I had the best childhood,” he recently told Rachel. “Provincetown was the best place to grow up.”
While still in his teens, Martin began to work as a fisherman. In the 1960s he partnered with Chris Cummings on a small sea clam boat. His career almost came to an early end when he was caught in the boat’s shaft. At the time, it was said, “He was banged up but alive.”
He later partnered with Red Murray diving for lobsters, which became the foundation of a small food business.
In the 1970s he trawled on the Patricia Ann and did some gill netting on Elmer Costa’s boat before crewing with Capt. Francisco Soares on the Divino Criador. He fished with Gar Francis on the Pinky and Annie L and caught bluefish on the Sea Wolf.
The highlight of his fishing career, according to Rachel, was on Mike Coelho’s dragger, Michael and Amy, which he helped crew for eight years. In a recent Facebook post, Coelho wrote: “Marty was with me all the time I had Michael and Amy. No better man on a boat.”
In 1966 Martin married Pat, and the couple bought land in Maine in 1978. They would visit as often as they could; Martin relished the isolation and quiet.
His greatest passion was canoeing, almost always alone. He especially enjoyed the remoteness of the Allagash River in the Maine woods north of Mt. Katahdin. He also traveled to Minnesota to canoe in isolation.
After Martin’s fishing days were over, he worked in construction for Lee White’s Construction in North Truro for 16 years.
In 1996, Martin and Pat’s marriage ended in divorce. Around 2000, with the support of Jackie Hasday, whom he married in 2017, Martin built a house on his Maine property. After Jackie died in April 2019, Martin retired and moved permanently to Waite.
“It is a shame they got together so late in life,” said Martin’s stepson, Ethan Poulin. “They were perfect together.”
“Martin was the kindest, most gentle human being on this planet,” said Rachel. “He would greet you with ‘Hey, Old Boy,’ and look you straight in the eyes to show that he liked you. Whenever I returned to Provincetown, everyone always asked for him.”
Martin is survived by his niece, Rachel Hayden, and husband Reed Hayden of Surry, Maine, nephew Ryan Turner of Hyannisport, niece Karen Cordeiro of New Hampshire, and stepson Ethan Poulin of Truro. He leaves many lifelong friends.
He was predeceased by his wife, Jackie Hasday Cordeiro, brother Robert Cordeiro, and sister Elizabeth Zissulis.
His family will celebrate his life privately.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in his memory to the Silva Ataxia Foundation at silvaataxiafoundation.org/donate.
