HARRINGTON – Virgil Mansir Grant, 81, died Sunday, May 20, 2007, at a Bangor health care facility after a short illness. He was born June 20, 1925, in Harrington, the son of the late Mansir and Josie Grant. He was a graduate of Cherryfield Academy in 1942 and entered in the U.S. Army Air Force in 1943, serving at numerous bases in the United States, England and Guam and was stationed in Weisbaden, Germany during the Berlin Air Lift. He served more than six years in the Army Air Force. He married his wife, “Jo” of 59 years, and they lived in Bangor while he was stationed at Dow Air Force Base before being sent to Weisbaden, Germany. After he was honorably discharged from the Army Air Force, he worked as a fish inspector and a potato inspector for the state of Maine and a “time-keeper” for Bridge Construction Co. before becoming an Inland Fish and Game Warden serving 23 years. He retired as a supervisor. After his retirement from the Fish and Game, he worked as a part-time sheriff in Houlton. He and his family lived in Caribou, Mapleton and Houlton in the state’s Aroostook County for 25 years, and in 1978 he returned to his place of birth in Harrington. He then worked as a night watchman at Wyman Blueberry Factory, Cherryfield, working there for 15 years. He enjoyed the outdoors, the wildlife, hunting and cruising his wood lot on his ATV with his grandchildren, whom he delighted in. He shared 59 years of marriage with Josephine (Tucker) Grant of Harrington. In addition to his wife, family members include his children, Jim Grant and his wife, Barbara, of Westminister, Colo., Pam Nelson and husband, Daniel, of Orono, Patty Duran and husband, John, of Brewer and Peggy Grant of Ellsworth; grandchildren, Devin and Ryan Grant and their mother, Jan Grant; other grandchildren, Kelly Woodbury, Alicia, Ashley and Jenna Duran; two sisters, Gertrude Ashby and husband, Don, of Lubec and Ardelle Kelley and husband, Tom, of Cherryfield; several nieces and nephews. Services will be held 1 p.m. Thursday at the First Baptist Church of Cherryfield. Relatives and friends are respectfully invited and may call at the church from noon until the hour of the service. Burial will be after at Pine Grove Cemetery, Cherryfield. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the First Baptist Church of Cherryfield, care of Harry Quayle, Treasurer, P.O. Box 515, Cherryfield, ME 04622 or to the Birchwood Living Center, 360 East Main St., P.O. Box 829, Ellsworth, ME 04605. Arrangements are entrusted to Bragdon-Kelley-Campbell Funeral Home, Milbridge. www.bragdonkelley.com
VIRGIL MANSIR GRANT
