1920 – 2015

TURNER — On Saturday, Feb. 7, we lost another member of the Greatest Generation when Annie Richardson, 94, died at her home in Turner.

Annie was born in Wellington on Dec. 5, 1920, to Sherman and Winnie G. (Stoddard) Cook.

On Christmas Eve in 1937, she eloped with Elmer Richardson. Annie said that she loved him the first time she saw him and that never stopped. They were married for 61 years, until his death on Aug. 1, 1999. Together, they raised six children while operating Richardson’s Garage in Turner Village. As she was so fond of saying, she pumped gas for 35 years while raising her family and volunteering for the Turner Fire Department. Her children remember the brown crank box that was mounted in the kitchen which Annie used to ring the siren that summoned the volunteer firefighters whenever a neighbor needed help.

With only 10 years of formal education, her goal was to see that her children graduated from high school and she accomplished this. Three of her children went on to continue their higher education. She was proud of her children’s accomplishments and worked and sacrificed all her life to see them succeed.

Growing up in Northern Maine and without having traveled much beyond Skowhegan, she was brave enough to travel to New York City in 1944 to meet her husband during World War II, when he had a furlough before being shipped to Europe, where he fought in the Battle of the Bulge. He was being shipped to Japan when World War II ended. He returned home, and they moved to Turner and made their home there.

She was the last of her generation and lived through the loss of her mother when she was 11, her father, her brother, her sister, her in-laws and most of the friends of her age that she had made over the years. She was a strong and hardworking woman, who sacrificed for those around her all her life.

She is survived by three daughters, Eva Leppanen of East Greenbush, N.Y., Lola Budek and her husband, Alexander, of Turner and Joan Bryant Deschenes and her husband, Roger, of Turner; her son, George Richardson and his wife, Linda, of Turner; daughter-in-law, Mary Richardson, of Turner; 26 grandchildren; 48 great-grandchildren; and 16 great-great-grandchildren.

She was predeceased by her husband, Elmer E. Richardson; her daughter, Louise Richardson; her sons, Sherman “Scamp” Richardson and Floyd Richardson Sr.; sons-in-law, Lloyd Bryant and Ray Leppanen; daughter-in-law, Pamela Richardson; her granddaughter, Heidi Hamann; her brother, Arthur Cook; and her sister, Elsie Wentworth.

The family would like to express their appreciation to Annie’s caregivers, Janet Robinson, Barbara Lucas, Donnaann Butlerherrick, Dominique Richardson, Elaine Parlin, Amanda Hebert, Mary Knox and Tammy Bean, as well as all the hospice aides and helping hands for the wonderful and thoughtful care given to their mother and support to the family. Also, a very special thank-you to her granddaughter, Kelly Richardson, for her many hours of care.

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