AUBURN — Ann A. Arsenault, 87, died July 2, at the Androscoggin Home Care and Hospice House.

She was born Ann Alberta Marie Allen in Rumford, Nov. 14, 1925, to George Allen and Bertha (St. Onge) Allen. Ann dedicated herself to her husband and her six children. Her lessons of love and strength of will were the glue that bound her family.

Annie, as she was known to her seven younger siblings — Charlie, as she was lovingly called by her husband, Jim — graduated from Mexico High School and, in her early 20s, worked as a switchboard operator for the Oxford Paper Co. in Rumford. She left that position to dedicate herself to raising her family.

She occasionally worked as a substitute teacher and, once her children were older, she worked at Bass Shoe. She was an avid reader and had an incisive mind. She loved traveling and exploring with Big Jim, whom she married in 1946.

For many years, they resided in Canton and later in Mexico. They enjoyed spending summers at their Prince Edward Island cottage and winters at their home in Daytona Beach, Fla.

She is survived by her six children, Patricia and husband, Joel Foster, of Rotonda West, Fla., Sandra Martinez and companion, Kris Jacobsen, of Hartford, Conn., Gildace J. Arsenault and Ann’s much loved daughter-in-law, Kay L. Herbert of Sumner, Victoria and husband, Al Rabisauckas, of Rotonda West, Fla., Janice Arsenault and companion, Dan Cote, of Jay and Joyce Arsenault and fiancée, Anita Whitney, of Augusta; 10 grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren; four brothers, Robert and his wife, Pauline, of Lewiston, Norman and close friend, Claudette Violette, of Lewiston, James and his wife, Laurel, of Winthrop and Richard of Lewiston; two sisters, Dianne Dutton of East Vassalboro and Joann Jameson of Brunswick and Wildwood, Fla.

She was predeceased by her husband and best friend of 56 years, James L.E. Arsenault, Aug. 14, 2002; her parents; and her brother, George E. Allen Jr., March 2012.

Her family deeply appreciates the exceptional care she received at Clover Health Care and the Hospice House. She battled Parkinson’s, with all its challenges and she did so with unwavering strength and remarkable grace. She tenaciously held to life not from a fear of death but from a love of living and of her family.

You are invited to share your thoughts, condolences and fond memories with the Arsenault family by visiting their guest book at www.SGThibaultFuneralHome.com.

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