POLAND – Doris “Irene” Hotham, 96, died April 17, at the home of her son on Knoll Road, where she lived for several years.

She was born in Casco, a daughter of Isaiah and Grace Emery. She grew up on Bragdon Hill in Poland and attended Johnson Hill School.

In addition to being a homemaker, she worked for Penley’s Box Factory, and in housekeeping and laundry at Tripp Lake Girls Camp and the Poland Spring Hotel. She was very well-known for her cooking. She loved baking and watching the birds that would come to the feeders that were placed in the windows of her home. She was often singing or humming hymns and songs from her childhood school days, and drinking tea. She loved her family and was a very special “Grammie.”

Survivors include two daughters, Grace Winslow of Casco and Carlene and her husband, Lewis Gray, of Poland; her son, Franklin Strout Sr., and his wife, Beryle, of Poland; her stepson, Kendall Hotham Jr., and his wife, Eileen, of Mechanic Falls; two sisters, Eleanor Tripp and Edith Taker; 17 grandchildren; 32 great-grandchildren; 13 great-great-grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews.

She was predeceased by her first husband of 36 years, Alton Strout, in 1961; her second husband of 26 years, Kendall Hotham Sr., in 2001; a son, Leland at birth; a daughter, Edith Ann Tripp in 1984; a grandson, baby Scott Edward Strout in 1969; five brothers, Guy, Bill, Frank, Paul and Junior; and her sister, Lucy. She will be sadly missed by all who loved and knew her.