PORTLAND – Mary Patricia (Walmsley) Godin passed away peacefully, surrounded by her loving family at Cedars, just shy of her 95th birthday, on Saturday morning, Feb. 8, 2020.

Mary was born March 25, 1925 in Lewiston, the eldest daughter of Helen Carlin Walmsley and Richard Joseph Walmsley.

She and her three sisters were raised in New Auburn where Mary continued to live for the first 92 and a half years of her life. In 2017, she began to struggle with dementia and moved to Scarborough Terrace, to be closer to her daughter and family, but she continued to think of herself as an Auburn Lewiston girl. She attended Auburn schools and graduated from Edward Little High School, class of 1942.

Mary met the love of her life Wilfred, a World War II Veteran, who served in the Battle of the Bulge, on a blind date at a formal dance on Valentines Day, 1946. The date was arranged by her soon to be sister-in-law, Emily Godin Blanchette, Mary’s friend. She and Will were married in November of 1947. Their daughter Kathleen, was born in December of 1948.

Mary had a number of careers, including several years as a New England Telephone Company operator and after an absence of several years while child rearing, she worked as an orthodontic dental assistant for Dr. Gibson in Lewiston. Years later, she served with Will as a house parent at Opportunity Farm for Boys. Mary considered her primary occupation though to be a stay at home wife, mother and grandmother. She relished her role as a loving mother and homemaker and excelled at cooking, including her delicious pies, cultivating her extensive flower and vegetable gardens, and frequently entertaining family, friends and neighbors, all while providing a warm, nurturing and stable home for her husband, daughter and later her beloved grandchildren. “Gram’s” homemade treats for Jess and Josh were prepared at regular intervals and even mailed to them when they were college students.

Mary’s interests were many and varied, including golf, at Fairlawn Country Club and later at Prospect Hill, and she frequently participated in ladies and couples tournaments. She was a member of no fewer than three bridge groups and was very active in the Lewiston Auburn Arts and Literature group. She was an accomplished seamstress, knitter, rug hooker, line dancer, and jewelry maker. Later in life she developed her artistic talents, as a stenciler, folk artist and eventually as a watercolor and oil painter. She was sought after and convinced to accept numerous commissions to apply her stencil art to refurbished antiques.

Mary volunteered extensively in the community in numerous ways. She especially loved to deliver books to residents of local assisted living facilities, retiring from that volunteer effort only when she reached the age of 90. Many of the special people that she selected and delivered books to were much younger than she was.

Mary was a very active and productive person who always wanted to be of service to others. She was a devoted participant at St. Patrick’s Church in Lewiston, and after its closure, a member of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Auburn. She also pursued numerous intellectual interests. She avidly devoured biographies of people of great achievement and her most rewarding pursuit involved a 30 year long study of spirituality. Together with a small group of like minded enthusiasts, the “Monday Morning Group” was born in the 1990s, which provided an outlet for she and her friends to discuss the principles of “A Course in Miracles” as well as the writings of Ekhart Tolle, in “The Power of Now”.

Mary was predeceased by Wilfred, her loving husband of 63 years in 2010; and her twin sisters Joan Walmsley in 1998 and Janet Lalonde in 2010. The majority of her large circle of friends predeceased her as well.

She is survived by her daughter, Kathleen Silverman and her husband Harvey of Falmouth; and her grandchildren Jessica Silverman, of Brooklyn, N.Y. and Joshua Silverman and his wife Maretta, of Boston. She is also survived by her dear sister, Teresa St.Pierre currently of Topsham, with whom she shared a bedroom growing up and continued as her next door neighbor on Loring Avenue in Auburn for over 65 years. She is also survived by brother-in-law, Daniel Lalonde Sr. of Lewiston, brother-in-law and sister-in-law Richard and Connie Godin of Lewiston, sister-in-law Theresa Chamallaird of Lewiston and numerous nieces and nephews.

Visitation will be from 4 to 6 p.m. Thursday at Pinette Dillingham and Lynch, 305 Alfred Plourde Parkway, Lewiston. A funeral service will be held at Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish, at Sacred Heart Church, 8 Sacred Heart Place, Auburn, Friday 3 p.m. Online condolences and sharing of memories may be expressed at www.lynchbrothers.com

In lieu of flowers please consider a donation in Mary’s memory to

Saint Jude Children’s Hospital

501 St. Jude Place

Memphis, TN 38105

or online at

www.stjude.org/give/

memorials-and-dedications.html

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