FRANCES CAROLINE LUBANDA HARTGEN

ORONO – Frances Caroline Lubanda Hartgen, 93, longtime Orono resident and wife of the late professor and artist Vincent Hartgen, died Saturday, Nov. 11, 2006, at Dirigo Pines Retirement Center. Frances was born Oct. 4, 1913, in Reading, Pa., the only daughter of Frank and Caroline “Carrie” (Kelchner) Lubanda. She was named for them both. In April of this year, at age 92, she published a memoir of her years in Orono and at the University of Maine, where she served as the Fogler Library’s first director of special collections and later as director of public services. The memoir, “A Maine Passage,” quickly sold to her many friends and people who remember both her and Vincent, whose paintings grace many homes, businesses and art collections across the state. In her memoir, she writes of a happy childhood and of how, as a high school student, her interest in literature was awakened by her teachers and her father, who encouraged her to go to college and get an education, which she did. After graduation from Reading High School in 1932, she worked her way through Syracuse University, graduating in 1937 with a degree in English and education. She and Vincent were married July 6, 1940 and she then taught school in Washingtonville, N.Y., while Vincent finished graduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania. During World War II, they lived in Baltimore, Md., where Frances worked in a bookshop, which further expanded her love of literature and language. Their twin sons, David and Stephen, where born there in 1944. The couple moved to Orono in 1946, after completion of Vincent’s military service. Frances was a junior high English teacher in Old Town and Orono schools from 1952 to 1967. Throughout the years she heard from many former students who remembered her strong focus on English writing and critical reading. Her eighth grade reading list was eclectic, beginning with Shakespeare’s, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream;” and including Harper Lee’s, “To Kill a Mockingbird;” Dickens,’ “Great Expectations;” Cooper’s, “Last of the Mohicans;” Thoreau’s, The Maine Woods” and Homer’s, “Odyssey” as expected reading. Many students wrote through the years that she first introduced them to great literature and taught them how to read it. She once took her English class to see the movie “Dr Zhivago;” she remarked later that “you could have heard a pin drop” on the bus afterward, the students were so moved and full of emotion. She kept meticulous records of her thoughts and letters, recently presenting her sons with all their correspondence home for the past 40 years. She committed her own favorite poem, “Daffodils” by Wordsworth, to memory and was not reticent about reciting it, helped along by a glass of wine. In 1967, one challenge completed, she returned to coursework at the University, completing graduate work in library science and education. This earned her a position at the Fogler Library of the University of Maine – Orono. While there, she was the library’s first special collections director and then director of public services, retiring in 1982. While at the Fogler Library, she expanded the library’s special collection holdings of Maine people, collecting such seemingly common materials as love letters of Maine couples. “People will always want to know about love,” she would say, encouraging people to send them to the library, many of which were sealed until the future. Reflecting a lifelong love of books and learning, she built a personal extensive collection of the works of D.H. Lawrence during her retirement, which numbered more than 1,000 items when she gave the collection to the Fogler Library in 2004. She loved Lawrence’s insights into human relationships, and at one point, she gathered some of her favorite Lawrence passages into a small printed collection. Frances and her husband, Vincent, were founding members of the Patrons of the Arts and were active in numerous Bangor area arts organizations. They held season tickets to the Bangor Symphony for many years and were active concert goers until just months before their passings. After Vincent’s passing in 2002, Frances refused to mope, but took on her new life with courage and humor. Her 90th birthday party, in October 2004, was a joyous affair attended by a hundred invitees. About the same time she also began work on a memoir of her life. She completed the manuscript for “A Maine Passage” in 2003 and the work was published in 2006, at age 92. A book signing event attracted nearly 200 people to Dirigo Pines April 28, 2006. Frances Hartgen was widely known for her positive, cherry attitude and optimism, which infected all who knew her. While she was the mother of two sons, she was also a mentor and friend to many young women. Her encouragement and support enabled many women to achieve their dreams and become vital to our community. She will be missed and remembered dearly by all who knew her. Frances is survived by her twin sons and their spouses, David Thomas Hartgen and his wife, Linda, of Concord, N.C., Stephen Anthony Hartgen and his wife, Linda, of Twin Falls, Idaho; their children, Alice LaBarge of Albany, N.Y., Tiffany Paisley of Colorado Springs, Colo., and Rachel Frances Hartgen of Boise, Idaho; step-grandchildren, Frank Simpson of Chapel Hill, N.C., Liesl Ganes of Wake Forest, N.C., Todd L. Wright of Parker, Colo., Tara Wright Beck of Boise, Idaho and Trenton T. Wright of Boise, Idaho; her brother, George Lubanda of Orono; numerous nieces and nephews of Naugatuck, Conn.; and special friends, Lillian Cutler, William Henderson, Bobbie Kahan, Ruby Nesbit, Mary Paul, Lucille Perodeau and Margaret Russell. She was predeceased by her husband, Vincent Andrew Hartgen of Orono; her parents; and three brothers, Frank Lubanda of Naugatuck, Conn., Nelson and James Rau of Reading, Pa., Also her family expresses their thanks to Dr. Penny Lamhut, the Dirigo Pines staff and St. Joseph’s Home Health and Hospice for their compassionate care. As her memoir shows, Frances was a dreamer and a doer all of her life. She loved the worlds of art and literature and the community of the University of Maine, to which she and Vincent were devoted to for so many years. She raised her sons with love and affection and was known to her many friends as a compassionate woman of empathy and support for those around her. She helped many people in innumerable quiet ways and leaves Maine and Orono a better place for those efforts. A memorial Mass celebrating Frances’ life will be held 1 p.m. Friday, Nov. 17, at St. Mary’s Catholic Church, Orono, with the Rev. Joseph Khoury officiating. A reception will be held after at Dirigo Pines, 9 Alumni Dr., Orono. A private family inurnment will be held. Donations may be made to the Fogler Library, Special Collections Department, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04473 or the Hartgen Teaching Collections, Department of Art, University of Maine, Orono ME 04473. Copies of her memoir, “A Maine Passage,” are available from the University of Maine – Orono Bookstore, Borders, from her sons at dthartge@email.uncc.edu or Stephen_Hartgen@hotmail.com A Service of Brookings-Smith, LaBeau Chapel, Orono. Condolences to the family may be expressed at www.BrookingsSmith.com