OLD TOWN – Mary Olga (Murray) Avery, 85, passed into the hands of God Oct. 28, 2011, surrounded by her loving family after a brief illness. She was born Oct. 10, 1926, in Brewer, the daughter of Percy and Olga (Lawson) Murray.
Mary graduated from Brewer High School and played basketball for the Brewer Witches. She worked as a supervisor in housekeeping at the University of Maine and retired after 21 years of service. She became an avid Red Sox fan later in life. If you visited her when a game was on television, you would have to join her in the living room and the conversations happened in between the exciting plays of the game. She always looked forward to playing Skip-Bo with her husband every day while dinner cooked. Mary’s family was her life. She always tried to make Christmas and birthdays special for the whole family. She could always find an extra dollar or two to place in those cards each year. She and Francis married on Valentine’s Day 1945 and enjoyed an active life with family and friends camping, hunting, fishing and watching the extended family grow.
Mary will be sadly missed by her devoted husband of 66 years, Francis I. Avery Sr.; daughters, Rosemary Simpson and her companion, Fred Billow, of Tolland, Conn., and Pam Kimball and her husband, Ken, of Old Town; sons, Michael Avery Sr. and his wife, Peggy, of Milford, Francis Avery Jr. and his wife, Brenda, of Milford, Robin Avery and his wife, Judy, of Orono and Gary Avery and his wife, Dianne, of Old Town; brothers, Simon “Joe” Murray of Milford, Norman Murray and his wife, Virginia, of Brewer and Thomas Murray of Philadelphia; sisters, Beverly Comeau and her husband, Joe, of Ellsworth and Pauline Kearney of Old Town; 11 grandchildren, 16 great-grandchildren, two great-great-grandchildren, many nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her parents; and seven brothers, Percy “Scotty,” Charles, James, John, Robert, Ralph and Paul.
Friends may call 4-7 p.m. Monday and noon-1 p.m. Tuesday at Birmingham Funeral Home, 438 Main St., Old Town, where a celebration of Mary’s life will be conducted 1 p.m. Tuesday. Burial at Lawndale Cemetery will be held at a later date. Memorial contributions may be made to American Cancer Society, P.O. Box 22718, Oklahoma City, OK 73123-1718 or visit www.cancer.org. Notes of condolence may be left at
www.birminghamfuneralhome.com.