DAPHNE CROCKER

HANCOCK – Daphne Crocker died peacefully at her home Sunday morning, Nov. 16, 2008, 15 months after her diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. She was born June 1, 1948, in Cleveland to parents, David and Bliss (Reed) Crocker. She attended Hathaway Brown School, Cleveland, and graduated from The Meeting School, Rindge, N.H., in 1967. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Marlboro College, Marlboro, Vt., in 1971, and earned two master’s degrees; one from Lesley College, Cambridge, Mass., in education and one from Case Western Reserve University, CWRU, Cleveland, in library science. She worked as a teacher’s aide for children with disabilities at Crotched Mountain, Greenfield, N.H., and as a teacher in the Therapeutic Nursery School of the Ellsworth Counseling Center. She volunteered in many libraries, including those at the University of Maine, St. Joseph’s Hospital, Eastern Maine Medical Center, Husson College, Bangor Mental Health Institute – BMHI, Hancock Point Library, and Bangor and Orono public libraries. After graduating from CWRU, she worked in the Department of Family Medicine there for one year. From 1986 to 1997, she worked as a medical librarian at BMHI, after which she retired to her home in Hancock, where she worked in the summers as postmistress at Hancock Point Post Office from 1998 on. She was an active participant in every community she lived in. She volunteered at Meals for ME, Hancock County Democratic Committee, the Maine Governor’s Commission on Disability, Downeast Senior College, town of Hancock Polls and Hancock Point Chapel Committee. Born with Cerebral Palsy and partial deafness, she worked for the rights of people with disabilities and of all people who are targets of discrimination. Diversity and inclusiveness were important to her. Despite her disability she bravely took part in things like learning to ski and hike as a child, driving a car as an adult, traveling in the U.S., Europe and Australia, and building an accessible house she could live in on her own, even as her disability increased with age. She celebrated her 60th birthday in June with a joyful party of more than 150 friends and family. Music was a lifelong source of happiness for her. She studied piano at Cleveland Institute of Music and enjoyed playing her whole life. She sang in the Acadia Chorale in the ’70s, the Oratorio Society in Orono from 1979 to 2007, including their European tour in 2003, and the Surry Opera in the late ’80s. She taught an opera appreciation class at Downeast Senior College and was excited to be able to attend the first Metropolitan Opera simulcast at the Grand, Ellsworth. She enjoyed concerts of Bangor Symphony Orchestra, Monteux School of Music, Ellsworth Gilbert and Sullivan, and many more. She leaves a sister, Sheila Denny-Brown and husband, Bruce, of Hancock; brother, Ben Crocker and his wife, Gladys, of Portland, aunt and uncle, Anne and Lyall Dean of North Branford, Conn.; stepsister, Cotton Carlson of Ipswich, Mass.; stepbrother, Hunter Crile; stepmother, Sally Crocker of Cleveland; nephew, Douglas Denny-Brown of Watertown, Mass.; nieces, Leti Harris of Fountain Hills, Ariz., and Andrea Denny-Brown of Pasadena, Calif.; three great-nephews, Noah, Benjamin and Dillon; several much-loved cousins; and a beloved cat, Licorice. She also leaves a worldwide network of loyal friends and admirers, some of whom she knew only through email. A memorial service will be held next summer at Hancock Point Chapel. Gifts in her honor may be made to Monteux School of Music, P.O. Box 457, Hancock, ME 04640.