BARBARA JAEGER FERRELL

SCARBOROUGH – Barbara Valentine Jaeger Ferrell, 92, died peacefully Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2010, at Gosnell Memorial Hospice House. Barbara was born Jan. 3, 1918, on Staten Island, N.Y., daughter of Edward Valentine and Elsa Warth Jaeger. She grew up there and attended the Staten Island Academy. The family moved to Denville, N.J., when she was 14 years old. She attended Kent Place School, Summit, N.J., and graduated from Smith College, Northampton, Mass., in 1940. She was employed by Federal Reserve Bank of New York City. In 1944 she joined the American Red Cross as a staff assistant and was deployed in January 1945 to a troop carrier and then with an Aero Club in England. Subsequently, she went with the Red Cross to Chartres, France. When the war in Europe came to an end in May 1945, she spent several months in Germany, returning to the states in November 1945. She was married May 11, 1946, to Capt. Herbert Ross Ferrell, staff officer of Pathfinder Group of IX Troop Carrier Command. They settled in Yarmouth, where Barbara remained after his death in 1978. Their first business, R. C. Nichols, was a mail order sporting goods and moccasin manufacturing company. In 1950 they built Down-East Village Motel and Restaurant, Yarmouth. It was fun and successful for more than 60 years, and is presently owned and operated by their son, Ed and his wife, Sue. Along with her husband, Herbert Ferrell, she was a pioneer and leader in the motel and tourism industry in Maine. Their motel was the second opened in Maine and is presently the oldest operating in Maine. They were charter members of the Maine Innkeepers Association and the Maine Restaurant Association. In 1985 Barbara married Robert Riegler and they also resided in Yarmouth until his passing. Barbara served her community in different and important ways. Throughout her life she was always involved in many volunteer activities. While working at Federal Reserve Bank of New York City, she helped with patient care at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Hospital, New York City, and also selling government war bonds in her New York City neighborhood. How much we could have felt involved and helpful if selling war bonds had been introduced to the Iraq War. Volunteerism was also a family thing. It started as den mother with the boys, followed by Girl Scout leadership. When the new resident conductor of the Portland Symphony Orchestra arrived, Barbara volunteered to be part of the extensive new volunteer support to the Portland Symphony Orchestra. With a term on the women’s committee and also involvement in many Portland Symphony Orchestra projects, she thoroughly enjoyed herself and had a sense of contributing to the ongoing growth and support of the Portland Symphony Orchestra. Volunteerism has been a huge factor in the Portland Symphony Orchestra success. She also served on the board and executive committee of Portland Junior League. She was active for many years in the 1980s and 1990s with First Parish Church UCC, Yarmouth, serving on the boards of deacons, trustees, stewardship and as a member of the church council. She also served as vice president of Yarmouth Historical Society. One cannot forget her sense of adventure and love of the outdoors. Growing up in a family who enjoyed fishing and hunting, and then spending summers in Maine at a girls’ camp, she was well prepared for the adventures toward the end of World War II in Europe. Barbara and her best friend in Europe, Helen Ormiston, had a new assignment through the Red Cross. They were to report to Wiesbaden, Germany. Helen and Barbara drove across war torn France and Germany in a jeep, with little or no direction, maps and certainly no GPS. She was a courageous and enthusiastic adventurer. She took up skiing with her children when she was 40 years old. Her favorite spot for the last 40 years was her home in Newry. Yet her adventures did not stop there. Through her later years, she loved to travel with family and friends to places of beauty and history here and around the world, including a trip down the Rhine, which she took at age 88, with her son, Ross. Throughout life Barbara was keenly connected to her children and their families. She always wanted the best for her kids. Barbara said that as she looks back on a long life, it is really one’s children, how they grow up and develop their lives, and their successes as parents that bring the most meaning. She is survived by two sons, Ross and his wife, Joan, of Bangor and Ed and his wife, Sue, of Yarmouth; one daughter, Ginnie Ferrell and her husband, Jack Raymer, of Atlanta; her brother, Hank Jaeger of Rhinebeck, N.Y.; five grandchildren, Jeffrey and his wife, Sylvia, of Bucksport and their children, Hannah and Aliyah, Matthew and his wife, Deb, of St. Cloud, Minn., CJ and his wife, Kate, of Yarmouth and London, Jay and his wife, Angie, and their son, Caleb, of Yarmouth and Ryan of Yarmouth; two stepdaughters, Cathy Riegler Van Hof and Betsy Riegler Reiney and their families, all of Florida; many nieces and nephews. Visiting hours will be held 4-7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 12, at Lindquist Funeral Home, One Mayberry Lane, Yarmouth. A funeral to celebrate Barbara’s long and full life will be held 11 a.m. Wednesday at First Parish UCC, 116 Main St., Yarmouth, with the Rev. Kent Allen officiating. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Yarmouth Historical Society, P.O. Box 107, Yarmouth, ME 04096 or First Parish Congregational Church United Church of Christ, 116 Main St., Yarmouth, ME 04096. For additional information and to sign Barbara’s guest book, please visit www.lindquistfuneralhome.com.