LEWISTON – Jean L. Payne, 73, of 94 Marble St., Lewiston, died Friday, July 1, after a brief illness.

She was born Jan. 13, 1932, at Quincy, Mass., to Louis P. and Blanche E. (Morin) Lemire. She grew up in Old Town, attending local schools and graduating from Old Town High School in 1949. She graduated from Bates College in 1953.

She was Miss Maine in the 1952 Miss U.S.A. Pageant. After working a year in Hartford, Conn., for Aetna Insurance Co., on June 28, 1954, she married Gregory D. Payne. He predeceased her on Aug. 9, 1968.

She also taught English at Lewiston High School for one year and, after being a homemaker, worked for 20 years as an acquisitions assistant in the Bates College library.

She was a member of Bates Key, the Woman’s Literary Union of which she was president in 1966, the College Club, the Women’s CMMC Hospital Association and the AAUW.

She was a communicant at St. Joseph’s Church, Lewiston.

She is survived by two sons, Douglas J. Payne, of Brunswick, and Dwight S. Payne, of Lewiston and his wife, Ann Marie Dion Payne; and four grandchildren, Jeremy, Katelyn, Brianna, and Emily Payne.

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