CALIFORNIA — Ann Evans Stanfill, 88, of Wayne, passed away peacefully Monday, March 19, while she was visiting in California, with family at her side.

Ann was born in 1929 in Short Hills, N.J., and grew up in New York City. She left to go to college at Northwestern University. She graduated from Northwestern with a degree in math at a time when they did not permit women to enroll in the engineering college, which was what she really wanted. While at Northwestern, Ann married Daniel Stanfill III. She and her husband moved to Huntington, Long Island, N.Y., where her three children were born. They lived in Stamford, Conn., and then Carlisle, Mass. When she divorced, she came to live in South Casco.

Although Ann was not a Maine resident until 1978, she had spent summers on Sebago Lake her whole life, and it was always her spiritual home. She passed her love of Sebago and Maine to her children and grandchildren, who came from around the country to spend time in summer under the pine trees on the lake.

Ann had varied jobs, typically in accounting and bookkeeping. She ended her career at Migis Lodge in South Casco where for many years she combined her book skills with her love of flowers and gardening. In addition to working in the office, she arranged daily flowers for the guests from gardens at her home and on the grounds.

Ann moved to Wayne in 2011 to live with her daughter, Valerie, and son-in-law, John Wood. She did not give up her beloved lake, however — she found a new home on Lake Pocasset, and the family continued to spend wonderful times there with the call of loons echoing. She was an avid gardener, and could be seen “puttering” in her gardens every day during gardening season.

She developed “itchy feet” after she moved to Maine and began to travel the world. Among her many adventures: she rode horseback in Costa Rica, petted whales in Baja, watched calving icebergs in Alaska, snorkeled in the South Pacific, went on safari in Tanzania, rode a camel in Egypt and watched blue-footed boobies in the Galapagos. Even when big adventures got more difficult, she continued to travel, spending time in Turks and Caicos each year. Her final journey took her to southern California to visit family, but she was unable to continue on.

She loved her children and grandchildren very much, and was proud of their accomplishments. She always supported them in their life choices. She is survived by her three children: Daniel Stanfill IV and his wife, Kyung, of Manhattan Beach, Calif.; Kim Stanfill-McMillan, of Madison, Wis., and son-in-law, James McMillan, of Cottage Grove, Wis.; and Valerie Stanfill of Wayne, and son-in-law, John Wood, of Shirley. She is also survived by her five grandchildren: Daniel (“DJ”) and Jina Stanfill, and Margie, Terry and Alex McMillan.

Ann E. Stanfill

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