BANGOR – Barbara Guild McKernan, 86, former Bangor city councilor and former President of the Maine Municipal Association, died on Wednesday, March 14, of complications from emphysema.

Born in Boston on Sept. 4, 1920, the daughter of Barbara Thatcher of Boston and Charles F. Guild of Boston. She moved to Bangor during her grade school years. She attended Dobbs School, in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., and graduated from Nightingale School in New York City before returning to Bangor.

In 1942, she married John R. McKernan. During World War II, she worked at the Republican National Committee, while her husband was assigned to the staff of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon, in Washington, D.C. Returning to Bangor after the war, she was active in civic affairs.

Upon the death of her husband in 1964, she was publisher for 10 years of the family newspaper, the Penobscot Times, in Old Town, before selling the paper in 1974. For the next 21 years, she worked for Eastern Maine Medical Center and the Bangor Savings Bank in community relations positions.

Even while she worked full time, she remained active in civic affairs, serving on the board of the Blaine House Restoration Committee, the Board of Directors of the Eastern Maine Development Corporation, the Advisory Council of the then-Eastern Maine Technical College, and on the Boards of Corporators of Eastern Maine Medical Center, Eastern Maine Health Care and Bangor Savings Bank. She was a member of All Souls Congregational Church. She was elected to the Bangor City Council in 1977 and re-elected in 1980. From October of 1982 to October of 1983, she served as president of the Maine Municipal Association. From 1981 to 1997, she served as a court mediator for the Bangor District Court system. In 1998 she was the recipient of University of New England’s Deborah Morton Award recognizing outstanding women with strong ties to Maine.

She is survived by her two sons, former Maine Gov., John R. McKernan Jr., of Falmouth, and his wife, U.S. Sen., Olympia J. Snowe, Robert T. McKernan, of Alexandria, Va. and his wife, Kim and their two sons, Kyle and Ryan; and her brothers, Charles F. Guild Jr., of Brewer and his wife, Frances, Gerald A. Guild, of Summit N.J., and his wife, Connie, Peter M. Guild, of Dallas, Texas, and his wife, Betty; and numerous nieces, nephews; and grandnieces and grandnephews.

She was predeceased by her husband, John R. McKernan and her grandson, Peter McKernan.