VAN BUREN – Gertrude (Martin) Powers, 87, loving wife and mother, died Nov. 24, 2003. She was born Sept. 30, 1916, in Van Buren, the daughter of Denis and Catherine (Michaud) Martin. She lived her entire life in Van Buren. On April 18, 1938, she married Romeo J. Powers and they were together until his death in 1994. Together they had seven children. Roger, the oldest, died as an infant. Gertrude was a devoted wife and mother who worked alongside her husband when they were farming. She helped tend to the animals, helped with the potatoes, and was known for her maintenance, painting, and carpentry skills. As the children were growing, she was involved in school activities, was a PTA mother, and also cared for foster children. When the children were older, she worked at Potato Service in Presque Isle, and as a clerk at Carmen Cyr’s variety store in Van Buren. She was an accomplished seamstress, from clothing to curtains and also enjoyed knitting, crocheting, tending to her flowers, and cooking. Her grandchildren will fondly remember the animal shaped ployes she cooked especially for them. She was a communicant of St. Bruno-St. Remi parish, and living next door to the former St. Remi Church in Keegan, she was actively involved in many parish activities. She participated in the fund-raisers, helped care for the church and altar linens, and did bookkeeping. Her loss will be shared by her many friends and her family, including, two sons, Norman Powers and his wife, Geneva, of Beverly, Mass., Rudolph Powers and his wife, Vivian, of Windsor, Conn.; four daughters, Bea Dumais and her husband, Ralph, of Van Buren, Lorraine Donahue and her husband, Robert, of Windsor, Conn., Ann Shackford and her husband, Hobart, of Johnston, R.I., Diane Porter and her husband, Gordon, of Van Buren; one brother, Ludger Martin of Van Buren; two sisters, Yvonne Grivois of Waterville, and Winnie Butler of Moosup, Conn.; 11 grandchildren, Susan Fitzpatrick, Linda Dumais, Lisa Tomas, Kelly Powers-Waters, Stacey Shackford, Sandra Shackford, Alan Powers, Donna McKeown, Scott Porter, Kay Porter, and Alex Porter; five great-grandchildren. Relatives and friends may call 5-8 p.m. Thursday and 9 a.m. until time of service on Friday at the Ouellette-Thibault Funeral Home, 12 High St., Van Buren. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Friday at the St. Bruno-St. Remi Catholic Church. Interment will be in the parish cemetery. Those who wish may contribute in her memory to the Ronald McDonald House of Bangor, Inc., 654 State St., Bangor, ME 04401.
GERTRUDE J. POWERS
