AUBURN — Barbara Nelson, 101, Greene’s oldest resident and the descendant of pre-Revolutionary Maine settlers, died at Hospice House on Thursday, March 17.

Barbara Nelson was born on Jan. 15, 1910, in Portland, the third of four children born to John Marshall and Annie Hill Sawyer. During the days of westward railroad expansion, she lived with her family in Montana, where Mr. Sawyer launched a chain of mercantile stores catering to settlers. Returning East, the family permanently settled in Greene.

Barbara was a graduate of Kents Hill Academy and the University of Maine. Following graduation, she managed the Sawyer Farms Ice Cream business, whose Craftsman-style, tan-colored kiosks still dot the Maine countryside. She also rose to family challenges, managing the household and nurturing the children of her widowed brother, and later, caring for her ailing mother.

With the onset of World War II, she enlisted in the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps, established to support the until-then all-male military force. While stationed at a base in South Carolina, she met her future husband, Lt. Col. Clarence Nelson. In 1943, she joined the newly-formed Women’s Army Corps and was assigned to a unit supporting the Burma-China-India airlift over the eastern Himalayas, which kept the Chinese war effort supplied. It was a challenging mission due to the lack of reliable maps, the absence of radio navigation aids, and a dearth of weather information. As a passenger, Barbara flew what was called “the Hump” between India and China several times, and recalled meeting both Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Tse Tung when the two conferred with U.S. military officials. She attained the rank of captain.

After marriage the Nelsons homesteaded near Fairbanks, Alaska, which was undergoing tremendous population growth prior to statehood. They retired to Batesburg, S.C., and were active in the local Republican Party. Barbara often returned to Maine and eventually moved permanently to Greene, residing with her sister at the home of their maternal ancestors on Hill’s Ridge.

In 2009, she was presented the Boston Post Cane by the town of Greene, a traditional honor bestowed upon the oldest resident of the New England towns that carry on the tradition.

Barbara’s love of travel took her to Europe, South America, and Australia. She revisited China. She showered her pets with the same intense affection she bestowed upon her many nieces, nephews and their offspring, all of whom found inspirational her adventurous spirit, sense of fun and derring-do. She was a patriot who kept abreast of current events and technological developments. Her long and active life, which began in an age of gas lamps and ice-block refrigeration, and, by its end, included motorcycle rides, computer lessons and a trip to Paris on the Concorde.

She is survived by her sister, June Stevens of Greene; sister-in-law, Pearl Sawyer of Auburn; numerous nieces, nephews, and their offspring; and many caring friends and neighbors, especially Sandra and Fred Bubier, Barbara Vivian and Karleen Perron of Greene.