1926 – 2013
GORHAM —Mary T. Johnson, last living family member of her generation and an 11th generation Maine native, passed away after a long illness in the early morning hours of July 1. She was 87 years old.
Mary was born June 25, 1926, in Paris, to Cyrus Willard and Josephine Roy Twitchell.Taught in a one-room schoolhouse in elementary grades, she graduated from Paris High School. She subsequently graduated from the Mercy Hospital School of Nursing, Portland, as an R.N., completing her residency at Concord State Hospital in Concord, N.H.
She married Donald Melvin Johnson in 1948 and subsequently had three children. Donald worked for Rand Corporation and after serving at the Topsham Naval Air Station and for NORAD in North Bay, Ontario. They relocated to Washington, D.C. During this time, Mary oversaw the upbringing of their three children and was a helpmate to her husband in home life and entertaining. After a change in presidential administrations in 1968, they relocated to Southampton, Bucks County, Pa., where her interests in American antiques and history blossomed.
Retiring to Maine in 1972, Mary resumed her long-dormant career in nursing, subsequently achieving head nurse status at Northern Cumberland Memorial Hospital (now Bridgton Hospital) in Bridgton, a position she held until the mid 1980s.
She and her husband were instrumental in rescuing from demolition by moving the historic Reverend Nathan Church House in Bridgton, which is now part of the Rufus Porter Museum.
Mary is survived by a stepsister, Marie Clarke of Pensacola, Fla.; her three children, daughter, Marcia Greason and her husband, Randall, of Windham and Margate, Fla.; sons, Thomas of Portland and Eric of Bridgton; two grandchildren, Elizabeth and her husband, Joshua Edwards, of Portland and Matthew Greason of Wethersfield, Conn.; and a great-grandchild, Sadie Elia Greason-Edwards.Also surviving are brother-in-law, Kenneth Johnson and wife, Millie, of Quincy, Mass.; along with numerous nieces and nephews.
She is predeceased by her husband, Donald; a brother, Gerald; and a sister, Anita; along with numerous in-laws and cousins.
Online condolences may be shared with her family at www.chandlerfunerals.com.
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