CANTON – Flags are to be flown at half-staff from sunrise to sunset Sunday, May 29, in Canton, Carthage and Dixfield, in honor and remembrance of Gladys E. Conant.
Conant, who served 49 years on the SAD 21 School Board and was the oldest leader of a 4-H Club, passed away Thursday at the age of 97 at Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington.
At the request of SAD 21 Superintendent Thomas Ward, state Rep. Randy Hotham, R-Dixfield, said Friday that he asked Gov. John E. Baldacci to bestow on Conant the rare honor of having both the U.S. flag and Maine state flag flown at half-staff on the day of her funeral service.
“Tom made me aware that we had lost Gladys,” Hotham said.
Baldacci wasn’t in when Hotham called, he added, but the governor “responded very quickly, because I think he knows Gladys.”
Baldacci issued the flag proclamation Friday.
Funeral services for Conant are to be held at 11 a.m. Sunday, May 29, at the Dr. G.G. DeFoe Gymnasium at Dirigo High School on Weld Street in Dixfield.
“Gladys was the spoke that kept us going,” said Beverly Conant, the wife of Gladys Conant’s son, Ralph, of North Turner.
“There’s going to be a big hole left, I think. She touched so many people,” Beverly Conant said late Friday afternoon.
Reflecting on her mother-in-law, she said Gladys Conant “was a gentle, wonderful lady, who was very caring. She touched countless lives through her community service and 4-H work.”
“It didn’t matter their status, rich or poor. She had a place in her heart for everybody,” she added.
According to her obituary, Gladys Conant and her husband, John Carleton Conant, raised nine children on their Canton Point Road dairy farm: Ann, Clifford, Clinton, Duane, George, Lucille, Olive, Norris and Ralph.
Hotham, a longtime friend of Clinton Conant, said that he first got to know Gladys Conant at Bradbury Memorial Church while campaigning, then when she invited him into her home to talk about history.
“Anyone who has seen as much history as she has – and she was willing to share it – is a valuable resource that we’ll all miss,” Hotham said.
“She had a smile and a glint in her eye that would tell you she was looking forward to whatever life had to offer,” he added.
Gladys Conant was also a staunch Republican, Beverly Conant said.
“She was a strong, old Republican right to the bitter end. She always stood up for the Republican Party, even through the bitter times and good,” she said.
A member of the Canton Town Republican Committee, Gladys Conant served as a polling booth clerk for Canton until three to four years ago, Beverly Conant said.
“She was a typical hardy Maine person, and she was clearly an amazing woman to have served 49 years on SAD 21’s board, and continued to serve 4-H as a leader. She will be missed,” Hotham said.
Beverly Conant said her mother-in-law didn’t seek re-election in 2002 when her last SAD 21 term expired.
“She was very, very interested in the school board. She loved her community. She was not someone to be a bystander on that board; she worked hard. She was a doer,” Beverly Conant said.
A 1924 graduate of Canton High School, Gladys Conant was also a 68-year member of the Canton Busy Workers 4-H Club, serving as its leader for many years. She was a member of the Pine Tree 4-H Federation, receiving the Distinguished Service Award in 1999 and the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002.
That year, she flew to Washington to be inducted into the 4-H Hall of Fame. There, Beverly Conant said, an engraved brick was placed with Gladys Conant’s name at the National 4-H Center.
Gladys Conant also loved basketball and baseball. All of her sons were “very good basketball players, and almost all of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren were or are in sports,” Beverly Conant said.
“She also loved the Celtics and the Red Sox. She didn’t miss a game on TV when they were on. She was one who didn’t go to bed early,” she added.
“She was a proud woman and a breast-cancer survivor. She taught us a lot of life, like strong moral values and high ethics. She loved her family dearly, and they meant everything to her,” Beverly Conant said.
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