JAY — Constance A. Noring, 81, of Great Diamond Island, passed away Saturday, Jan. 25, after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease and recent battle with cancer.

She was born in Portland to Carl and Frances (Daly) Baade, one of seven children. Connie graduated from Deering High School in 1950. She was very active in high school, and excelled at field hockey and basketball. She graduated from the Maine Eye and Ear Infirmary in 1953.

Connie developed lifelong friendships with her fellow nursing students, Audrey Rand, Laura Barrett and Barbara Chipman. Audrey and Connie were best friends for 58 years, separated only by a sandbar between Little Diamond Island and Great Diamond Island.

Upon graduating from the Maine Eye and Ear Infirmary, she joined the U.S. Air Force and was stationed in Mississippi and Florida, and later in Pease, N.H. While in the Air Force, she married her childhood sweetheart, Robert Noring, in 1957. She worked as an operating nurse at Osteopathic Hospital until 1963, when they started their life and family on Great Diamond Island.

Through the years, they made lifelong friends on Peaks Island, where they wintered a few years, before living year-round on GDI. The Callows, Parkers and Gorhams were all present at the “backshore cookouts.” The islanders on Casco Bay are dear family friends and formed lasting memories for Connie and Bob through the years. If Connie and Bob were not watching the boats go by Great Diamond Island, you could find them with their friends, especially the Webers, Ramseys or Fragers.

During her 50 years on the island, she wore multiple hats: Connie became known as “the pie lady,” baking pies at Boone’s restaurant; she was the island nurse; “Constable Connie;” island greeter and friend to all. But most importantly, she was a loving wife, mother and grandmother, always present at her grandchildren’s school and sporting events.

She excelled at all of her hobbies. She played tennis with the “girls” and also played on several candle-pin bowling leagues, with Martha, Betty, Betsy and Caitlin. She was a wonderful knitter, completing beautiful fisherman knit sweaters, and she loved to pick berries and would travel to Rangeley to “pick,” with her sister, Betty and husband, Ray. She would get so involved picking berries at her daughter, Betsy’s, that she would literally get stuck and have to get cut out of the patch.

In the winter, she loved to ski, both cross-country and downhill, and ice skate. She was a multiple year winner of the Fryburg Fair’s frying pan toss, with friends setting up training for her on the island. She loved puzzles and was always quick to say, “I just saw that piece.” She traveled to the Caribbean, with Bob and friends; Florida, with her sister, Pat and husband, Lloyd; and to Europe with her daughter, Judy and her kids, to visit “where Bob had been in the Army.”

Connie is survived by daughters, Judy Diaz of Jay and Betsy Haney of Buxton; grandchildren, Caitlin Haney of Westbrook and Jose and Libby Diaz of Jay; sisters, Patricia Johnson and her husband, Lloyd, of Portland and Nancy St.Peter and her husband, David, of Standish; sister-in-law, June (Noring) Durost of Jay; brothers-in-law, Raymond Shorey of Oquossoc and Henry Noring of Portland; many nephews, nieces and cousins; and her Casco Bay steadfast friends.

She was predeceased by her loving husband, Robert F. Noring; mother and father, Carl and Frances Baade; sister, Elizabeth “Betty” Shorey; brothers, Carl, Donald and Robert; and son-in-law, Allen Diaz.

The family would like to express their appreciation to Connie’s physician, Dr. Zeitlin, and his staff and caregivers, Haley Charpentier, Rebecca Keith, Cindy Fournier and Kim Cook, for their care and compassion during the last few months of Connie’s life.

Please visit www.jonesrichandhutchins.com for additional information and to sign Connie’s online guest book.