Olive R. Tardiff of Brentwood, formerly of Exeter, died peacefully on January 15, 2015 at Rockingham County Nursing Home. She was born in Exeter on January 2, 1916 and lived to see her 99th birthday. She
was the daughter of the late Edward and Maude Richards, longtime residents of Exeter. She graduated from Robinson Seminary in 1932, and from the University of New Hampshire in 1937. She received a master's degree from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY in 1965 and worked as part-time librarian in several different locations.

Olive married the late Joseph Tardiff, formerly of Exeter, in 1938 and moved with him wherever his position as manager of chemical plants took him. On his retirement in 1969, the couple moved first to Hampton and then returned to Exeter for their final years.

Olive Tardiff began to study writing while living in Hampton, and became a freelance writer, with six paperback books and more than two hundred articles in newspapers and magazines to her credit. Two of her best known and most successful books were entitled The Exeter-Squamscott, River of Many Uses and She Paved the Way, a History of New Hampshire Women. She also contributed light verse to several publications. She was active for many years in various Unitarian churches and in the Exeter Historical Society.

Olive was preceded in death in by her husband of 64 years and by the couple's oldest son, Robert J. of St. Joseph Michigan. She is survived by her daughter Nancy Tavernier and her husband Richard Tavernier of Acton, Mass., Herbert Tardiff and his wife Lee Ellen, of Auburn, NH and daughter-in-law Marge Tardiff of St. Joseph, Michigan, as well as numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

There will be no viewing hours. Services will be held in the spring. Memorial donations in Olive's name may be made to the Exeter Historical Society, 47 Front St., Exeter. Arrangements are being made by Brewitt Funeral Services.