Patricia (Toni) Dougherty MacClarence of Edgartown and Naples, Fla., died peacefully, surrounded by her loving family on Dec. 3. She was 84.

The daughter of the late Thomas Dougherty and the late Patricia Hunter (Hoagland), Toni was born in Stamford, Conn., on July 17, 1927, and grew up in Manhattan. As a young lady, Toni attended the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Noroton, Conn., and graduated from the Nightengale-Bamford School in New York. She then attended the Art Students League of New York. In the fall of 1945, she met William R. MacClarence, known to his friends and loved ones as Mac, at a Columbia University football game. The beautiful redhead fell for the charming and handsome fighter pilot who had just returned from World War II and they were married the following June. Thus began an adventure that would have them living in New Jersey, California, New York, Florida, Oregon, Connecticut, Vermont and even Caracas, Venezuela and Dublin, Ireland, finally settling at their idyllic Martha’s Vineyard home.

Toni was exceptionally gifted at finding houses and making them homes for her family. She was a talented artist and, in her youth, an accomplished athlete and a fierce competitor. Above all, Toni was a loving mother and a loyal friend. Everyone who knew her was in awe of the tenacity with which she fought and beat cancer five times over five decades.

She was predeceased by her brother, Robert Dougherty. She is survived by her husband, Mac, the love of her life; her four children, Michael (Jim) Bashford of Milwaukee, Ill., Pat MacClarence and her husband Allen Harden of Chicago, Ill., Kathy Rudkin and her husband Tom of Fairfield, Conn., and Tom MacClarence and his wife Meg of Loudonville, N.Y.; grandchildren Sean (Talicia) Bashford, Gillian Bashford, Kelsey Harden and Moira Harden of Chicago, Katie Rudkin McMullan and her husband Will, Adrienne Rudkin of New York, Stuart Rudkin of Fairfield, Conn., and Mairead, Jack and Will MacClarence of Loudonville, N.Y.; and great-grandchildren Wills McMullan and Avery Bashford.

A memorial mass was held at St. Mary of the Angels Chapel at Siena College, Loudonville, N.Y., on Dec. 6.

Those who wish may make a contribution in Toni’s memory to the Vineyard Nursing Association, 15 Merchant’s Court, P.O. Box 399, Vineyard Haven, MA 02568 or to St. Peter’s Hospital Foundation/Hospice, 319 South Manning Blvd, Albany, NY 12208.