EAST BERNE — Marcia J. Pangburn, a devoted and fun-loving mother, worked hard as an x-ray technician to support her children.

She died on Sunday, Jan. 7, 2018, after a short illness. She was 60.

“Marcia’s children and grandchildren were the center of her life,” her family wrote in a tribute. “Marcia befriended everyone she could and shared her love.”

She was born Jan. 11, 1957 to Lora and the late Raymond Ricketts. Ms. Pangburn grew up on the family’s 80-acre farm on Saw Mill Road in East Berne, which her mother described as “a piece of heaven on Earth.”

The Ricketts raised beef cattle and pigs, and kept cows for milk and butter. They raised their vegetables in a big garden and did home canning and freezing. “We were self-sufficient,” said Mrs. Ricketts earlier.

She also said, “When we did work, like putting in the hay, we’d have a picnic at the end. After we cut firewood, we’d have a hot-dog roast. We did it all together … No matter what happened, we all stuck together.”

Ms. Pangburn loved to go to school and particularly liked her science classes, her mother said. She played flute in the school band.

“Every day, she went to feed the cow and chickens,” said Mrs. Ricketts. “She loved to take care of animals.”

Ms. Pangburn lived for horses, her mother said. “When she was 14, she bought a Palomino with the babysitting money she’d saved — Pal was its name. That was the love of her life, until Andrew.”

Her senior year of high school at Berne-Knox-Westerlo, she married Andrew Clark. He was in the Army so Ms. Pangburn went with him to Colorado where he was stationed. She came back to Berne to finish high school, graduating in 1976, her mother said.

Her first child, Brendon Clark, was born in 1977. Her second child, Derrick, was born in 1980 but lived just a short while. The marriage ended with divorce and Ms. Pangburn returned to Berne. She reconnected with a high school friend, Mark Pangburn, and they married in 1982. She gave birth to Miles Clark in 1983. After a divorce, she had a daughter, Kyra Swan, in 2001.

“She was always there for us,” said Brendon Clark, describing his mother. “She was very supportive. She was a single mother. She always made sure that we had what we needed … She went to college to provide for us.”

When Miles was 3, Ms. Pangburn studied at Hudson Valley Community College to become a radiologist. She worked for 28 years at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center. “She loved it,” said her mother. “She retired a couple of years ago because she had COPD,” she said of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, a chronic lung disease.

“She worked overtime,” said her son. “She was always busy.”

But the family “had fun times,” too, he said.

“She was very strong, very independent,” said her mother. “She bought her own house next to the boat launch on Thompsons Lake.

“She bought jet skis and we’d take turns with it,” said Mr. Clark. “She was someone who was fun to be around, keeping everything lighthearted.”

Ms. Pangburn loved to swim. “We’d be in the lake and she’d sing, ‘How high’s the water, Mama?’,” her son said, reprising Johnny Cash’s “Five Feet High and Rising.”

Ms. Pangburn had a sterner side, too. “She demanded we get good grades and do well in life,” said her son. “She wanted us to succeed.”

Her mothering extended beyond the children she had given birth to. “She was a second mother to our friends,” said Mr. Clark. One of his boyhood friends was a foster child, now living in Florida. On hearing of Ms. Pangburn’s death, “He’s so heartbroken, he hasn’t slept,” said Mr. Clark.

Mr. Clark went on, “She was definitely one of a kind. She was always lively. Her facial and hand expressions were very active when she talked. She was always smiling. She was a people person … I don’t think anyone disliked her.”

“She liked helping other people,” said her mother, giving the example of her regularly taking an elderly neighbor to go grocery shopping.

Ms. Pangburn recently helped plan an 80th birthday party for her mother and her mother had made plans to take Ms. Pangburn out to lunch next week for her 61st birthday.

Her son said, “She was all about seeing people get along. She knew about being good to one another. With unity we can get there. We, as a people, can’t be divided. She liked seeing the positive stuff.”

Mr. Clark concluded, “It’s a humongous loss. She made the world a better place. She’s in our hearts.”

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Marcia J. Pangburn is survived by her sons, Brandon Clark and partner, Jennifer Smith, and Miles Pangburn and his wife, Melissa; and by her daughter, Kyra Swan; and by her grandchildren, Samson Clark, Nichole Clark, Iain Bullis, and Madeline Pangburn.

She is also survived by her mother, Lora Ricketts; by her beloved sister, Kathleen Carnevale, and her husband, Gary; by her adored nieces, Kassi Martin and her husband, Jared, and Danielle Ricketts; by her cherished great-nieces, Zoey Babcock and Katherine Martin; and by many aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends.

Her father died before her, as did her son, Derrick Clark, and her brother, Daniel Ricketts.

Friends may call on Friday, Jan. 12, at Fredendall Funeral Home at 199 Main St. in Altamont from 5 to 8 p.m. Funeral services will be held Saturday, Jan. 13, at Thompson’s Lake Reformed Church at 1210 Thacher Park Rd., East Berne at 1 p.m. Interment will take place at Thompson’s Lake Cemetery at a future date.

Memorial contributions may be made to Thompson’s Lake Reformed Church, 1210 Thacher Park Rd, East Berne, NY 12059.

— Melissa Hale-Spencer