CAPE ELIZABETH – Loretta M. (Clifford) Anderson, 92, passed away on Friday, Oct. 22, 2004, with her family by her side. Loretta was born Oct. 1, 1912, in New York City, the fifth child of Margaret McGeary Clifford of Jenkintown, Pa. and Paul E. Clifford of Devonshire, England. Loretta was schooled at Our Lady of Lourdes School in New York City and St. Anselm’s School of Business in the Bronx, N.Y., where she graduated with highest honors and general excellence in religious studies. She often joked that she won so many awards and prizes that the nuns had to carry her out after graduation. She had a sparkling sense of humor saying that she would often wear all her medals into the bank where the tellers would tip their hats. In her youth, Loretta loved horseback riding, summering on the Jersey shore with her family, and designing her own clothing. She was a lifelong and dedicated member of the Roman Catholic Church. Her children credited her faith with her tremendous strength and fortitude through many of life’s challenges. After graduation, Loretta went on to work for Buick Motor Company for two years, and General Motors Acceptance Corp. for the next 12 years. It was through friends there that she met her future husband, John Anders Anderson of Rockland. They married two years later and moved to Milford, Conn. where she and her husband both worked for Remington Arms. Their first son Robert “Bobby” was born in 1943, just days before Loretta’s husband was drafted into the U.S. Army and service in the South Pacific. During this tumultuous time, Loretta moved with her infant son to Rockland to live with the Anderson’s. When her husband returned after three years, they built a home on family land in Rockland where John took up work as a fisherman and marine engineer. They added four more children, Dorothy, Peggy, Pat, and John. For the next 20 years, as a fisherman’s wife, Loretta held down the home front while her husband plied the Grand and Georges Banks. This long haul fishing required him to be away for long stretches. She was an anchor for her growing family, especially during hurricanes and the time his ship was missing in a storm for three days. This New York City girl was not prepared for such a singular life in a place so foreign to her Manhattan roots, yet she met each challenge head-on and raised a fine family of caring and capable individuals. Loretta’s husband became ill and died in 1965. With four children still in school, Loretta went to work fulltime for Rockland pediatrician, Dr. Emery B. Howard, where everyone knew her as Mrs. A. She continued in this work that she dearly loved until her retirement in 1981. During the next few decades, she set up home bases in Cherryfield and South Portland, visiting her sister Dottie in Florida and traveling with family to Prince Edward Island, England, Wales, Scotland, Switzerland, Austria, and Italy. Her favorite place was the English countryside where she felt most at home. Perhaps this was because her father, who played and traveled around the world with John Philip Sousa’s band, was born and raised there. Throughout her 92 years, Loretta was an avid volunteer serving as a nurses aid at Knox County General Hospital; acting as secretary for the local women’s club, and religious study groups; assisting at the children’s clinics in Rockland; contributing to the PTA; and volunteering with RSVP and the Red Cross. Loretta enjoyed excellent health and independence until her mid 80’s when she began to experience the affects of Alzheimer’s Disease and went to live with her daughter Dorothy and later her daughters Peg and Pat. Her family gratefully acknowledges the professionalism and kindness of the staff at Haven Health Center of Cape Elizabeth who cared for her so lovingly in her final year. Loretta was predeceased by her husband John; their first-born son, Robert who died in 2003; her brothers, Paul, Harold, George, and Frank; and her sister, Dottie. She leaves her children, Dorothy Anderson and Peggy Fuller of South Portland, Pat Anderson of Unionville; her son, John, his wife Karen, and their children, Katie, Andrew and Margaret of Acton, Mass.; her grandson Michael Fuller and fianc?e, Helyne; and great-grand-daughter, Julianne of Windham. She also leaves behind daughters-in-law, Mary Ellen Kuehn and Lynda Anderson; as well as grandchildren, Robert and Mary Anderson; and great-grandson, Larry Bruce Stevens III all of Raleigh, N.C. Her one surviving sister-in-law, Marion Anderson lives in Bradenton, Fla. She also leaves nieces, Kathy Weise of Jacksonville, Fla., and Colleen Birchler of Redmond Wash., and a nephew Kevin Murphy of Lake Stevens, Wash. A Mass of Christian Burial was held Oct. 28, 2004, at St. Bernard’s Roman Catholic Church in Rockland, after which, her ashes were lovingly placed beside her husband in Mountain View Cemetery in Camden. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to Holy Cross School, 436 Broadway, South Portland, ME 04106, in memory of Loretta M. Anderson.