1936 – 2003

WESTBROOK – Kathleen Floyd Mersereau, 67, passed away Aug. 2, at the SpringBrook Nursing Care Facility.

Born in Rumford, April 7, 1936, she graduated from Stephen’s High School, Rumford, in 1954 and attended the Texas State College for Women.

The remaining years of her life were devoted to the service of others, both public and private. While raising her children, she ran the Helen F. Floyd Boarding home at 20 Prospect Ave. in Rumford. During this time, she served on the Rumford Board of Selectmen as well as various boards and committees. Most recently, she served on the South Portland Planning Board, resigning due to illness.

Throughout her life, she was an active member of the Republican Party. For the past 10 years or so, she worked as a home health aid for ‘VNA and Hospice’, as well as volunteering her spare time to hospice care and other healthcare-related activities, often providing home-cooked meals to elderly or disabled clients and acquaintances. One of her favorite activities was attending informal family gatherings where she would engage in lively political debates and seek to ‘trim’ family and friends at the cribbage board.

Other interests included gardening, entertaining, genealogy and traveling. She was especially fond of the jazz and food of New Orleans. She devoted a good part of her life to the United Methodist Church, most recently as a member of the Peoples’ United Methodist Church Broadway, South Portland.

Survivors include a sister, Evelyn Lowell and her husband, William Lowell of Cape Elizabeth; her six children, Melinda Platt of West Bath, Elizabeth Mersereau of Cranston, R.I., Mark Mersereau of East Greenwich, R.I., Robert Mersereau of Cornish, Richard Mersereau of Rumford and Peter Mersereau of Portland, Ore.; and seven grandchildren.

She was predeceased by her parents, Helen and Walter Floyd of Rumford; and her sister, Margaret Floyd Duffy of Fitchburg, Mass.