AUBURN – L. Thelma Pontbriand, 85, passed away suddenly with family by her side at her residence on Wednesday, June 14.

She was born in Island Pond, Vt., on Sept. 25, 1920, a daughter of William and Malvina (Dubois) Riggie. She was the third sibling of a family of five children. As a child, she loved traveling with her family on the railroad, where her father was a brakeman and conductor.

She graduated at the top of her class from the Brighton High School in Island Pond, Vt., Class of 1937. At the age of 18, she left home and went to school at Mercy Hospital in Portland, where tuition, room and board was exchanged for work in the hospital.

Upon graduation at the age of 21, the Red Cross recruited her to join the U.S. Navy, where she was a Navy nurse at field hospitals on Pearl Harbor, Tinian and Guam during World War II. In 1946 she was discharged from the Navy as a Lt. Commander. After returning from the service, she completed her education at the University of Vermont, where she received a degree in nursing education.

She began her teaching career at Rumford Hospital. She then met her husband Gerald, moved to Auburn, and raised a family of six children. She continued her teaching career at CMMC and later Saint Mary’s School of Nursing in Lewiston, where she taught for more than 25 years, retiring as the assistant director in 1980.

After retirement, she continued her love of teaching by tutoring nursing students. In her younger years she was an avid athlete and sports fan. Later in life, she enjoyed golf, bridge, beano and watching her children and grandchildren participate in sports. She loved to travel with her husband and visited many national parks in the west, where her twin sons worked.

One of her greatest joys was spending time at the family camp on Thompson Lake. She was an active member of St. Louis Catholic Church in Auburn for more than 50 years, a member of the New Auburn American Legion Post 153, the Auburn Veterans of Foreign War, the Auburn Heritage Society, where she served as treasurer and the New Auburn Senior Citizens.

She is survived by five children, Robert Pontbriand and his wife, Diana, of Auburn, twin sons, Daniel Pontbriand of Alexandria, Va. and Edward Pontbriand and wife, Kelly, of Gouldsboro, Linda and husband, David Gross, of Auburn and Mark Pontbriand of New Gloucester; two brothers, Brian Riggie and wife, Phyllis, of Island Pond, Vt. and William Riggie and wife, Paula, of Land O’Lakes, Fla.; her eight grandchildren, Erin Breau, Alyson Farrington, Matthew, Daniel, Travis, Tara, Trevor and Kate Pontbriand; and one great-grandchild, Aiden Breau.

She was a wonderful, loving wife, mother and grandmother who will be sadly missed by all.

She was predeceased by her parents; her loving husband of 53 years, Gerald R. Pontbriand whom she married on Jan. 21, 1951 in Island Pond, Vt.; a son, Thomas Pontbriand; and her two sisters, Theresa Younce and Cleone Sylvester.