PORTLAND – Ann (Merrill) Heald of Cape Elizabeth, 85, died Jan. 21, at her daughter’s home in Portland after suffering a stroke.

She was born on Sept. 14, 1923, in Newton Center, Mass., the second of three children to Stanley W. Merrill and Muriel (Dowley) Merrill. She attended local schools in Newton, completed a two-year program at Colby Junior College (now, Colby Sawyer) in New Hampshire, and then received her registered nursing degree from Newton Wellesley Hospital. She worked for Dr. John Richardson, an ear, nose and throat specialist in Boston until her marriage on Aug. 5, 1953.

She first met her husband, Donald K. Heald, as a young child when her family summered at Heald’s Camps in Oquossoc, the place where her parents had spent their honeymoon in 1920. After their marriage, she and Don ran the camps together, bringing together families throughout the eastern United States who vacationed there every summer and who appreciated both the beauty of the area and the personalized attention (and excellent baked goods) that she provided to all their guests. They had one child, christened Nancy. As their daughter grew older, Ann became active in Girl Scouts and served as a troop leader in Rangeley for many years.

The camps were sold in 1980 after Don’s sudden death, just as their daughter was graduating from law school. Ann moved back to the Boston area to be near her family until 1983 when her daughter took a job with a Portland law firm and she returned to Maine and her present home in Cape Elizabeth.

She worked on a part-time basis for several years before settling into a quiet life at her home, bringing the same generous spirit to neighborhood families that had been evident to the guests at Heald’s Camps.

At the age of 72, she accompanied her daughter to China to bring home her granddaughter, Katherine Bei Heald. After they returned to the United States, she took care of Katie during the day in her home until Katie started preschool. At the age of 81, she and her granddaughter walked her daughter Nan down the aisle to get married. Until her recent illness, she lived independently in her home, walking every day at Fort Williams or other local areas in the community.

She touched the lives of countless people during her lifetime. We will always remember her capacity to love, her ability to anticipate and act to meet the needs of others, and her tremendous work ethic. She lived by the admonition “early to bed and early to rise,” found delight in nature and the outdoors, and was happiest making the lives of her family and friends more comfortable.

She is survived by her daughter, Nan Heald and her husband, Frank D’Alessandro, and Nan’s daughter, Katie, all of Portland; Frank’s children, Daniel and Kate D’Alessandro, of Rochester, N.Y., and Washington, D.C., respectively; sister, Jean Thornquist of Portland; and Jean’s son, Richard Thornquist of Williamsburg, Va.; brother, S. Walker Merrill Jr. of Frogmore, S.C., and East Falmouth, Mass.; his three children, Laurie (Merrill) Annicelli, S.W. ‘Lee’ Merrill II and Geoffrey Merrill; as well as several great-nieces and nephews.

The family wishes to express their deep appreciation to the staff of Allegiance Hospice Care of Maine for making Ann’s final days in her daughter’s home so peaceful.