SACO – Laura Ellen Brown, 88, formerly of South Portland, passed away Sunday Jan. 20, 2019, at the Gosnell Memorial Hospice House in Scarborough. She was born in Dixfield on Dec. 26, 1930, the daughter of Claude and Gertrude Welch Merrill.
She lived on her family’s farm and attended local schools until the age of 16, when she moved to Portland to live with her sister. It was in Portland where she met her husband, Gerald, and they married on July 10, 1953. After living in an apartment in Portland, they then moved to a house in South Portland in 1966.
Laura enjoyed candlepin bowling, family reunions, doing yard work, and taking care of her grandchildren.
She is survived by her son Gerald W. Brown II and his wife Susan of Scarborough, daughters Laurie Whitmore and her husband Gregory of West Bath, and Susan Vickery and her husband Thomas of Hollis; her five grandchildren Gerald W. Brown III, Amanda Carroll, Ryan Whitmore, Thomas Vickery II, and Sara Jo Vickery; and seven great-grandchildren, Abigail Whitmore, Emily, Molly, and Charlotte Carroll, and Vander, Trever, and Porter Brown; four brothers Elwin and his wife Margaret of Peru, Carroll and his wife Denise of Peru, Cleon and his wife Carolyn of Peru, and Paul and his wife Carol of Roxbury, and three sisters Frances Holmquist of Peru, Lois Bellegarde and her husband Conrad of Mexico, and Lorraine Plaisted and her husband Charles of Rockport
She was predeceased by her husband Gerald, her brothers Leon, Melvin, Irving, and Erwin Merrill, and sisters Eleanor Leo, Carolyn Collins, and Marilyn Batchelder.
A celebration of her life will be held at the VFW Post 6859 on 687 Forest Ave, Portland, on Feb. 9, from 11a.m. to 3 p.m. A graveside service will be held in the spring.
Dennett, Craig & Pate 13 Portland Rd, Buxton (Bar Mills) has been entrusted with her arrangements.
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