1935-2003

MECHANIC FALLS – John Arthure Annance died Dec. 27, at The Maine Veterans Home, South Paris, after a long battle with Alzhiemer’s.

He was the son of Frances M. Annance, born in Greenville, July 27, 1935. He grew up on the shores of Moosehead Lake and attended schools in Greenville. He joined the United States Air Force in 1952 and fought in the Korean Conflict with the 49th Fighter Squadron as an aircraft mechanic.

He returned to Maine and married Claudette Irma Bosse of Lewiston on Dec. 1, 1956.

John worked in the textile industry his entire life and retired from Robinson Mfg. in Oxford after thirty years. John and his wife owned and operated Polly’s Variety in Oxford from 1983 to 1997.

An Abenaki Indian, he enjoyed the solitude of the wilderness, hunting and fishing and the company of friends and family.

He was past president of the Scarlet Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps of Lewiston and Mechanic Falls, Past Vice Commander of American Legion Post 153 of Mechanic Falls, and a member of The Anderson Staples Post 112 of Oxford. He was a Master Mason and a member in good standing of Oxford Lodge 18, AF & AM of Norway, the Scottish Rite Bodies in the Valley of the Androscoggin, the Consistory Valley of Portland, The Oxford Chapter Eastern Star 168 and the Kora Temple Shrine.

He was also a lifetime member of the VFW Post 9787 of South Paris and a member of the N.R.A.

He is survived by: his wife of Mechanic Falls; two sons, Louis and his wife, Sheila, of Mechanic Falls and Robert and his wife, Darlene, of Oxford, and daughter Lisa Annance of Oxford; his grandchildren, Jeremy, Julie, John, Peter, Jason, Megan, Ryan, Lacey, Michael and Mathew and his great-grandchildren, Connor and Sarah; three brothers, Charles Smith of Tuscaloosa, Ala., Daniel O’Connell of Harpswell and Patrick O’Connell of Lisbon.

He was predeceased by his parents Louis and Frances O’Connell and brother Fredrick Russell Annance of Otisfield.