FARMINGTON – Mary T. Gifford, 88, widow of Frank W. Gifford, died Friday, May 11, at the Sandy River Nursing Care Center.

She was born in Bridgewater, Mass., on Oct. 26, 1918, the daughter of the late Thomas and Maryann (Fournier) Tinsley Sr.

She graduated from Bridgewater High School in 1935 and the Truesdale Hospital School of Nursing in Fall River, Mass., in 1940. She worked at the Truesdale Hospital as head nurse and night supervisor until 1946.

She married Frank W. Gifford Jr., of Somerset, Mass., in 1943. Together, they moved their family to Cutler in 1961, where he was fire chief at the Cutler Naval Radio Station. She worked at the Down East Community Hospital in Machias from 1965 to 1976.

He died in 1974, and she moved to New Sharon in 1977 to be near family. She worked part-time at the Home for the Aged in Farmington, and also took blood pressures at clinics in the area.

She was a member of the Maine State Nurses Association, the Altar Guild of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, Farmington; the Hospice Group of SRNCC of Farmington, RSVP and Literacy Volunteers of Franklin and Somerset counties.

She enjoyed taking part in activities and going on trips sponsored by the Senior Center in Wilton and attending Elder Hostels, once traveling as far as Alaska to participate.

Her love of music inspired her to take piano lessons in her sixties, and she was always ready with a song to sing. She was also a lifelong Red Sox Fan.

She is survived by one son, Frank W. Gifford and his wife, Joy, of Oakland; one daughter, Margaret G. Scholl and her husband, Ernest, of New Sharon; three grandchildren, Jennifer Currier and her husband, Michael of Chesapeake, Va.; Nathan Scholl and his wife, Kimberly, of Terre Haute, Ind., and Amy Scholl of Brighton, Mass.; one great-grandchild, Brandon Ryder; and numerous nieces and nephews.

She was predeceased by four brothers, Thomas, Joseph, Gerald and Charles Tinsley; three sisters, Ellen T. Schroll, Rose T. Sweeney and Elizabeth T. Souza; and one grandson, Jeffrey L. Scholl.