FALMOUTH – Patricia Louisa Emery, 85, formerly of East Holden, and most recently of Falmouth, passed away on Thursday, July 24.

She was born on July 20, 1923, in Long Cross, England, daughter of Ernest and Edith Horrell. She was educated in Plymouth, England, schools.

She met her husband, Raymond, when he was serving in the U.S. Army during World War II in Great Britain. It was from his and other bases in the U.K. that the invasion of Normandy’s Omaha and Utah beaches was launched. Due to Plymouth’s close proximity to France, the city’s dockyards were heavily bombed during what was known as the Plymouth Blitz and 3,700 homes, along with more then 1,000 civilians, were lost.

During their courtship, they often had picnics on the moors overlooking the city of Plymouth. There were times when they would watch the firefights over the Cornish coast between the Allied Forces and the German Luftwaffe during the bombing of Plymouth, a story that they both enjoyed telling their children and grandchildren.

They were married on July 21, 1945, in Plymouth, England. She emigrated to the United States in 1946, and proudly received her American citizenship on May 18, 1959. She was employed as a secretary and notary public for the law firm of Keith and Keith in Bangor, for approximately 30 years.

She often related vivid memories of surviving the war and the blitzkrieg. She frequently spoke of the many nights her family would spend in their bomb shelter and especially of the time a German incendiary bomb landed in her upstairs bedroom. Her father, a member of the Plymouth Civil Defense Corps, carried the smoldering, unexploded shell down the stairs and out of the house in a bucket of sand, saving the home from certain destruction. She also was honored to relate her memories of WWII to the children in her son John’s fifth grade class at Andover Elementary School, where he was a teacher.

She was a sweet, gracious woman who dearly loved her family. She was a devoted wife and mother, always quick to offer both encouragement and praise to her children as they grew. She loved her son-in-law and daughters-in-law as she did her own children. Besides her family, among her greatest loves were her native England, her lovely flower gardens, and feeding the birds that came to her kitchen window feeder. She and her husband enjoyed many summers in Steuben, and frequent day trips together to the Castine and Schoodic Point areas.

She is survived by her son, Brian and his wife, Linda, of Cumberland; their son, Christopher and his wife, Melissa, and son, Thomas Vaughn, of Standish; their daughter Beth, of Boston, Mass.; her son, John and his wife, Carol; their sons, Scott and his fiancé, Lisa Henry and their daughter, Ava Grace, all of Andover; Nathan, of Telluride, Colo.; her daughter, Heather Bowden and her husband, Keith Bowden, of Windham; their daughter, Wanda Lord and her husband, Edwin, of Pittsfield; son, Eric Bowden and his wife, Luba, and son, Simon, of Poulsbo, Wash.; and many nieces and nephews.

She was predeceased by her husband in 2001; and her brother, Ernest (Mick) Horrell in 2004.

Her family wishes to thank the staff of Sedgewood Commons in Falmouth, and Beacon Hospice Care for the excellent and compassionate care given to Mrs. Emery in her last illness.