SOUTH PARIS – Velma Helen Chute (nee Boyer) died peacefully in the presence of family on Jan. 26, at the Veterans Home.

She was born in 1916, to Della and Irvin Boyer of Butler, Pa. She attended public schools in western Pennsylvania before moving to Boston to attend the practical nursing program at the Evangeline Booth Hospital where she graduated first in her class in 1936.

She met Willard Chute Jr. in 1941, while on vacation in Casco. They married on May 4, 1942, and lived in Casco while raising their four children. She was very active in the Bridgton Road Church and led the local 4-H Club in South Casco for many years.

In her mid 50s, she accompanied Willard to Rockport while he studied for the ministry. She pursued a lifelong interest in painting and became an accomplished artist in watercolors and oils. She sold many paintings, gave many others to family and friends and exhibited in many art shows.

After their retirement, she continued her art, poetry writing, gardening and her thorough research of the Chute and Boyer families’ genealogies. Eventually the couple moved to the Veterans Home in South Paris, where Willard passed away in October 2003.

She is survived by four children, Linda Chute of Scottsdale, Ariz., Paul Chute of Santa Rosa, Calif., Carol Solak of Napa, Calif., and Judith Brown, of San Francisco; and three grandchildren, Meghan and Shannon Andrews-Chute and Steven Calhoun.

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