LEEDS — Louise Catherine (Gould) Grant of Quaker Ridge, Leeds, died peacefully at home on July 2, shortly after celebrating her 100th birthday.

She was born on June 21, 1911, in Medford, Mass. She moved to Freeport in her early years and for the most part remained a Maine citizen the rest of her life. The daughter of Hilda Jenkins Gould and Franklin Farrar Gould, Louise attended Freeport schools, where she was a star center on the 1928 tournament-winning high school basketball team.

Louise received her teaching credentials at Gorham Normal School and taught for several years before marrying the great love of her life, Alden Grant, on June 23, 1934, a marriage that flourished for 68 years. Their life together was informed by great wit, fun, music, grace, generosity and loving-kindness.

Of great importance to them was their involvement with the Leeds Community Church as charter members. Louise was at times an elder, Sunday school teacher, and treasurer as well as a member of the choir and women’s association.

In 1956, Louise resumed her teaching career, completing a degree in education from the University of Maine, and continuing to teach until her retirement in 1976.

She was a beloved and influential educator, first in the Freeport school system, where the family took up winter residence, and then in Greene and Leeds. Louise served for a time on the board of trustees of The Theater at Monmouth, and was a past member of the Winthrop Art Club.

When failing eyesight interrupted Alden’s career as a noted Maine artist, Louise devoted her time and energy to his care and comfort, keeping him in their home until shortly before his death at age 91. Following Alden’s death in 2002, Louise poured her creativity and artistry into the beautiful quilts for which she became famous, and her prodigious memory into reminiscences of her childhood and her family history.

(Remember when she loaded 14 pupils into her roadster to go retrieve a truant second-grader? Did you hear about the time she was on a driving tour and coaxed a demolition expert on a road crew into letting her blow up the side of a mountain? Do you recollect …?)

Louise was unable to attend the 100th birthday party arranged in her honor, but friends and family from all over this nation and Canada came to celebrate. Each table bore cards on which people could write messages to her, and card after card read, “You were such an inspiration to me.” A fitting epitaph for a great lady.

She leaves a brother, Franklin Gould of Farmington, Conn.; a sister, Kathryn Ball of West Caldwell, N.J.; four children, Lillian Ellis and her husband, Paul, of Rangeley, Alden Grant Jr. and his wife, Jane, of Freeport, Hilda Grant Jones of Farmingdale and William Grant and his wife, Barbara, of Leeds; 12 grandchildren; 13 great-grandchildren; and many loved nieces and nephews.

Louise was predeceased by her husband; and a brother, John Gould, of Friendship.

Messages of condolence may be sent to: www.finleyfuneralhome.com.