Pearl (Rudman) Mayman, 99, of New London, died Monday, January 6, 2014 at the New London Hospital. She was born in Malden, Massachusetts on November 4, 1914, the daughter of Harry and Rebecca (Yudenschreiber) Rudman. She lived in Stoneham, Massachusetts until moving to New London in 1993.

Pearl was the youngest of five children and ended up being the last surviving member of her generation, which made her very significant to her nieces and nephews. She was the longest serving elected public officeholder in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and a fierce defender of the First Amendment.

Pearl was Chairman of the Board of the Stoneham Public Library, where they have a children’s reading room named after her. In her younger days she was an avid sportswoman, enjoying swimming, fencing, ice skating, and horseback riding. Adventuresome, she learned to ski at the age of 50 and continued that sport until she turned 80.

The Boston Symphony was a favorite, along with ballet, music, and theater. She liked to golf and thoroughly enjoyed her membership at Lake Sunapee Country Club. She was also a member of the Penguin Ski Club at Attitash.

Her husband, Aaron Mayman, died in 1956. Members of her family surviving include a son, Lee Mayman, Art Director of Film, TV, and Theater in New York and Los Angeles, of Marina Del Rey, California; two daughters, Toby Mayman, founding Director of The Colburn School of Performing Arts in Los Angeles, and her husband, J.H.B. Kean of Marina Del Rey, California and Myra Mayman, founding Director of the Office for the Arts at Harvard, and her husband, Alex Bernhard of East Andover; a grandson, Jeremiah Aaron Kean Mayman, artist, of Venice, California; nieces and nephews.

Graveside services will be held in Sharon Memorial Park, Sharon, Massachusetts. Memorial contributions may be made to Stoneham Public Library, 431 Main Street, Stoneham MA 02180. To sign an online guestbook please visit ChadwickFuneralService.com.