ENFIELD – Leona M. (Towle) Hatch passed away on Jan. 13, 2005. Leona was born July 3, 1912, and lived most of her life on the Dodlin Road in Enfield. She was the fourth child of Adner F. and Aubine S. (Curtis) Towle. Leona attended school on the Dodlin Road and graduated as valedictorian from Mattanawcook Academy in Lincoln in 1929, where she played violin in the orchestra. She continued playing her “fiddle” throughout her life and is still remembered for her performances at church and at area dances. Leona is remembered as a loving, whip-smart and hard working woman whose devotion to her family was the center of her life. She was a proudly independent woman whose company was often sought by family and friends for support and lively conversation. Her sharp wit and the value she placed on life-long learning will always be admired by those who knew her. She sang and wrote poetry and passed on her love of verse to her children and her grandchildren. She loved to correspond, writing letters to her large extended family and friends across the country daily. She was active in her community and very proud of being born and raised on the Dodlin Road. In addition to her fiddle playing she bowled for more than 30 years on various teams where she made many friends. She was a member of the Enfield Baptist Church, an honorary member of the Northern Penobscot Pomona Grange and the Ammadamast Grange of Enfield, from which she received the Golden Sheaf representing 50 years of membership. Leona’s life was full, varied and always meaningful. She worked for her aunt briefly at a restaurant/bakery in Bangor after graduation and she baked delicious bread for years after, often surprising people with warm loaves wrapped in a dish towel. She then went on to work at the Stowell McGregor Spool Mill in South Lincoln until it closed in the mid-1950s. From there, she worked for Clay’s Store and Shorey’s Market in Lincoln before returning home to the Dodlin Road full-time to care for her ailing mother and niece. Leona and her husband Perlie frequently took long trips (with Leona behind the wheel). They attended the World’s Fair in Seattle, Wash., and especially loved touring the South West. Leona kept a world map on her kitchen wall and an unabridged dictionary on a lectern in her living room, consulting each frequently as family members traveled around the world, as world events occurred or as spirited family debates regarding correct grammar or word usage erupted. She also often consulted another valuable family resource, her journal, through which she recorded family antics and ended, unequivocally, many a family debate. A life-long journaler, the volumes she leaves behind are filled with her humor, her frank and honest observations about her life and the lives of others, and most importantly, she leaves some of herself. Her journals will provide lasting comfort to her family and will no doubt continue to be consulted for many years to come. One of Leona’s greatest thrills, and perhaps one of her greatest challenges was boarding her grandsons during their high school years while their parents were working abroad. She often said three teen-age boys kept her young and on her toes. In addition to her parents, she was predeceased by her husband of 49 years, Perlie D. Hatch in 1988; as well as her brothers, Charles and Vaughn Towle; her sisters, Emma (Towle) Meade and Helen (Towle) Barker; and her son-in-law, Dale P. Grant. She is survived by her daughter, Carole Grant, who cared for her during the final years of her life; her son and daughter-in-law, Curtis and Mary Hatch of Colchester, Conn.; five grandchildren, Kenneth, Jeannine, Robert and Alan Grant, and Heather Hatch; five great-grandchildren, Ian, Alec, Camden and Liam Grant and Rhianna Loupin; her devoted sister, Laura Stacy of Dover Foxcroft; a sister-in-law, Julia Hatch of Zephyrhills, Fla.; and a cousin, Norma Wilks, of Bangor; as well as several special nieces and nephews and their families, and very special neighbors on the Dodlin Road, Cassius and Jeannette Fall. A memorial service will be held 1 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 22, at the Enfield Baptist Church. In lieu of flowers, gifts in memory of Leona may be made to the Enfield Baptist Church. Arrangements with Clay Funeral Home, 7 Lee Road, Lincoln. For an online register book, please visit www.clayfuneralhome.com.
LEONA M. (TOWLE) HATCH
