WINDHAM — Lois Elaine (Wagg) Carlin, cherished wife and beloved mother of 12, peacefully went to be with the Lord on Nov. 10, after a long illness. She was surrounded by her loving family.

She was born June 2, 1935 to Frank Owen and Mavourette (Howland) Wagg in Lewiston. She was a graduate of Edward Little High School, Class of 1953 and president of her nursing class of 1956 at Central Maine General School.

She married her husband, Harry W. Carlin Jr. on Dec. 28, 1956, and immediately left for Alfred, N.Y., where he was attending college. She continued her nursing career at St. James Mercy Hospital in Cornell, N.Y., until her first child was born on April 1, 1958.

After her husband graduated, they returned to Auburn, where they started Carlin’s Farm, which was later renamed Carlin’s Family Farm after a move to Windham in 1969.

She was a stay-at-home mother, working with all the family members on the farm, until her youngest of 12 children was in the second grade and she returned to her nursing career as a nursing supervisor at Seaside Nursing Home in Portland, from where she retired in 1997 and returned to the farm, where she excelled at tying trellis tomatoes.

She enjoyed family events, swim group, day trips, especially with her sister, Barbara, picnics at the ocean, attending her children’s and grandchildren’s sporting events and every night playing Jeopardy with her husband and family members. She was a communicant of St. Hyacinth’s Church. She will be remembered for her kind heart, quick wit and great patience.

Survivors include her husband of almost 54 years; her sister, Barbara Pelkey and her husband, Bill, of Topsham; four sons, Peter Carlin and his wife, Susan, of Windham, John Carlin and his wife, Antonietta, of Danvers, Mass., Joseph Carlin of Windham and Stephen Carlin and his wife, Lisa, of West Boylston, Mass.; and eight daughters, Catherine Gosselin and her husband, Robert, of Raymond, Julie Colbert and her husband, Gary, of Fort Edward, N.Y., Anne Blake and her husband, Mark, of Windham, Maureen Palladino and her husband, Stephen, of North Andover, Mass., Mary Ekholm and her husband, Glenn, of South Portland, Theresa Labrecque and her husband, Guy, of Gorham, Barbara LaVallee and her husband, Dan, of Gray and Paula Pock and her husband, Steven, of Windham; she is also survived by 31 grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.

She was predeceased by her parents; her brothers, Robert and Gerald Wagg; and daughter-in-law, Tracy Carlin.

Online condolences may be made to www.dolbyfuneralchapels.com.