MEXICO – Evelyn Deraspe Arbor was born to Hubert Deraspe and Mary Young Deraspe on Sept. 22, 1926 at their home on 37 Kimball Ave., Mexico. She died on August 29, 2020 at the age of 93. Her hard-working parents had migrated from a coal mining area of the Madeleine Islands, Canada, to the papermill life in Western Maine where they attended St. Theresa’s Catholic Church and raised their large family.

As a child Evelyn loved climbing trees, and collected pretty handkerchiefs and all shapes and sizes of boxes. As a young student she attended St. Theresa’s School. From there she attended public school where she loved working in the office and the new friends she made there. When recovering from scarlet fever in isolation at home she learned to embroider. In later life she enjoyed making pillowcases and napkins as gifts for friends and family.

Evelyn attended Mexico High School and was a member of the class of 1944, a class that felt the full brunt of WWII. At her senior prom the girls danced with each other, as all the boys, including her brothers, were overseas. Evelyn always loved to read and was a good student, graduating as her class “Salutatorian.” In high school she pursued the commercial course and was very quick with both typing and taking shorthand. She became secretary to the principal, joined the Glee Club, the Commercial Club, and earned a Varsity “M” for playing four years of basketball. She kept her orange and black uniform carefully packed away and later loved to cheer for the Celtics, especially Larry Bird.

After graduation she passed a Civil Service exam and was recruited to work in the Pentagon. She was assigned to the Signal Service, “Office of the Chief Signal Officer”. There she received actual combat films to caption and refer to the Generals’ area where they studied them, using the new information to direct on-going battles.

Homesick for Maine and her family after a year in the capital, Evelyn returned from Washington to work at the Rumford Falls Trust Company as secretary to the president, Paul C. Thurston, for seven and a half years. Later she worked at the Franklin Savings Bank in Mexico as head teller.

On March 31, 1951, she married Joseph Arbor of Spruce Street, Rumford, who worked as a traveling salesman for Frost Motor Oil Company. Later he worked for the local paper mill so that he could be closer to his wife and growing family. Evelyn and Joe loved each other and their children. They greatly enjoyed time at their camp at Garland Pond, fishing, picking berries, and playing pinochle with their good friends, Wilma and Norman Belanger.

Evelyn leaves behind seven living children of whom she was very proud, Emilie Arbor Moran and her husband, Peter Moran, of Hudson, Mass., Ann Arbor and her husband, John Rosenwald, of Farmington, Charles Arbor of Mexico and his companion, Ellen Hall, of Portland, Gerald Arbor and his wife, Betty Jean Heaney, of Chesterton, Ind., Hugh Arbor and his husband John Walk, of Cathedral City, Calif., Carol McEvoy and her husband, Tom McEvoy, of Barrington, Ill. and Christine Arbor and her husband, Michael Nall, of Pacific Grove, Calif.

Evelyn was also predeceased by three children, Edward, Mary, and Gregory Arbor, who died in infancy but always remained close to her heart. She called them, “her little angels.”

She devoted her life to her family, her husband, her children, her parents, her siblings, her many wonderful grandchildren and great-grandchildren, her nieces and nephews, and all those they loved.

She was a good neighbor, and a good friend, treasuring especially her friendship with Wilma Belanger and Leola LeCoeurs, with whom she drank many cups of tea. Her sharp eyes enabled her to always balance her checkbook to the penny and to be the first to find a four-leaf clover on any sunny hillside. Evelyn was generous with her time, often helping others with their paperwork and their mending. She also volunteered in the office at Meroby Elementary School for 17 years, where she enjoyed working on special projects to help the overly busy secretary.

Evelyn was famous for her homemade pies and donuts, often delivering them by surprise to teachers’ lounges, car mechanics, or neighbors. She was known for being wicked good at cribbage and gin rummy, for loving a good book and a good movie. She loved her exercise class, which she attended regularly, and her bowling team, where she won trophies for being the most improved player.

She could also be counted on as a reliable administrator, organizing basketball games for a women’s league after the war, monthly luncheons for the class of ’44 and their reunions. During the forties and fifties she created with two friends a club of young professionals, called Club Eighteen, on the island in Rumford. With them she loved to explore areas of New England and Canada and to jitterbug whenever she got the chance. She also loved to travel, to visit her family and friends in Chicago, New York, California, Massachusetts, London, Shanghai, France, and Holland. She was proud to meet long-lost relatives in the Madeleine Islands in Canada, to see Stonehenge, Thomas Hardy country, the British Museum, the Anne Frank Museum, the French countryside, the Great Wall, and Tiananmen Square in Beijing.

She was a devout Catholic and attended Parish of the Holy Savior in Rumford. She loved her family, her community and her country, enjoying every encounter with those she met near and far. She believed charity began at home but did not end there and loved to retell of encounters that made an impact on her like when she once heard Eleanor Roosevelt give a speech to raise money for war bonds. After the talk, as Eleanor walked down the aisle, Evelyn reached out and touched her sleeve. It was a moment she would never forget.

Evelyn was predeceased by her parents, Hubert and Mary Deraspe; and her siblings, Albert Deraspe, Ella Deraspe Giroux, Eugene (Tanny) Deraspe, Georgina Deraspe Warner, Louise Deraspe Perry, James Deraspe, John Deraspe, Alice Deraspe McLaughlin, Patricia Deraspe Holland, and George Edward Deraspe.

Evelyn Deraspe Arbor was a spirited good woman, who worked hard and lived a good life. She will be dearly missed by all who knew and loved her.

Condolences and fond memories may be shared with the family at http://www.sgthibaultfuneralhome.com

Visiting hours will be held on Friday Sept. 4 at the funeral home from 4 to 7 p.m. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, services will be private at this time and interment will take place at St. John’s Cemetery in Rumford at a later date. Arrangements are under the care of SG Thibault Funeral Home, Cremation and Monument Services, 250 Penobscot St., Rumford, 364-4366.

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