CLARA HOPKINS (CAMPBELL) HATHAWAY

ISLAND FALLS – Clara Hopkins (Campbell) Hathaway, 103, passed away peacefully in her sleep Monday, Dec. 6, 2010, at Mount Heights Healthcare, Patten. She was born Feb. 5, 1907, in Island Falls, the fifth child of Seth Timothy and Mary Agnes (Hopkins) Campbell. Clara grew up in the home where she was born, and graduated from Island Falls High School, Class of 1923, and Posse-Nissen College. She was a lifelong outdoor woman who loved to canoe, hike and climb Mount Katahdin. As a young woman, her sense of adventure took her on a cross-country road trip with two friends in a borrowed automobile to the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles, visiting national parks and camping along the way. After her sister, Madeline’s untimely death, Clara raised her children, Donald Foss Hathaway and James Kent Hathaway. In 1937, she married their father, Albion Foss Hathaway, in Sherman Mills, and they returned to Lewisburg, Pa., where Foss worked for the Federal Prison Service. They later had the unusual experience of living on Alcatraz Island when Foss worked as a guard there. They returned to Island Falls in 1941. Clara and Foss had two children, a daughter, Mary Agnes; and son, Seth Timothy. In Island Falls, Clara served as bookkeeper to Water Co., cooked school lunches at the Crystal and Island Falls schools, was librarian at Katahdin Public Library, and boarded young teachers who taught in the high school. She was active in Whittier Congregational Church, was worthy matron of Order of the Eastern Star, and was a longtime member of Katahdin Club. She was an avid bridge player and enjoyed regular games with her bridge club, was active in her community, knitting baby blankets for those in need, serving many church suppers, being active in the Republican Party and being a good neighbor to all. Clara’s fondest memories were of outdoor activities and of her family. She often told of setting out with friends for a winter’s hike on snowshoes and staying at farmhouses in Dyer Brook, Smyrna and Oakfield for the weekend; taking her first “road trip” in a borrowed car to Mount Desert Island, where her parents were from; encountering her first stoplight in Old Town; following the high school sports activities of her children and grandchildren; snowsledding with friends and neighbors; baking bread for her family and friends; and spending time at her granddaughter, Keely’s camp on Pleasant Pond, and enjoying family reunions there in August each year. She is survived by her daughter, Mary Sherwood and her husband, Ted, of Hampden; sons, James Hathaway of Shin Pond and Tim Hathaway of Dallas; granddaughters, Kate (Sherwood) Rumley and her husband, Russ, of Ottawa, Ruth (Hathaway) Storrie and her husband, Dave, of Singapore, Keely Hathaway, Karen Hathaway and Crista Hathaway of Santa Barbara, Calif., and Anna Hathaway and her husband, Dan Gleason, of Chicago; grandsons, Ben Sherwood of Seattle, David Hathaway of Lewiston, Tad Hathaway and his wife, Laura, of Chicago, Alan Hathaway of Santa Barbara, Calif., Eric Hathaway and his wife, Kim, of Canton, Conn., and Will Hathaway and his wife, Michelle, of Los Angeles; daughter-in-law, Katharine Hathaway of Chicago; stepgrandchildren, Darlene McNally Scrivener and her husband, Larry, of Maquoketa, Iowa, Kerry McNally and his wife, Karen, of Patten, and Susan (McNally) Smith and her husband, Randy, of Shin Pond; and many loving great-grandchildren. Clara was predeceased by her husband, Foss Hathaway; and son, Donald Hathaway. Clara’s family is thankful for the wonderful care that was provided her by the caring and skilled staff at Mount Heights Healthcare, Patten. Friends may call 4-7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 10, at Bowers Funeral Home, 54 Sherman St., Island Falls. Funeral services will be held 1 p.m. Saturday at Whittier Congregational Church with the Rev. Amanda Wagner officiating. Interment will be at Island Falls Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, remembrances may be made in Clara’s honor to Whittier Congregational Church, P.O. Box 404, Island Falls, ME 04747 or Katahdin Public Library, P.O. Box 148, Island Falls, ME 04747.