Mabelle Elizabeth Ashworth Smith
SMITH, Mabelle Elizabeth Ashworth, 94, at SCARBOROUGH, ME, June 20, 2011. A private service will be held later in the summer.
Mabelle Elizabeth Ashworth Smith, (1917-2011), beloved wife of the late Roger William Smith, passed peacefully from this life at the Gosnell Memorial Hospice House in Scarborough, ME, on June 20, 2011.
She will be especially missed by son Larry, daughter-in-law, Diana, and granddaughter, Laura of Boulder, CO; by son, Bruce and his partner, Peter Allen of Gorham, ME; by son, Dana, daughter-in-law, Sheila, and grandsons, Eric and Darren of Lake Elmo, MN; and by her niece, Judy Marshall of Waimanalo, HI. Also surviving are cousins, John Peery Bruce of Conowingo, MD, and Janet Beamer Jump of Westminster, MD.
Mabelle was born in Gettysburg, PA, April 10, 1917, the daughter of John H. Ashworth – chair of the Department of Economics and Sociology at the University of Maine – and Mabel K. Bruce. She attended Orono High School, and enjoyed running so much that she often ran more than a mile to school. At the age of 20, she graduated from the University of Maine in Orono with a B. A. in History, having been on the All-Maine Basketball Team and the All-Maine Field Hockey Team.
Mabelle and Roger were married in the summer of 1938, lived in Boston and Presque Isle, and purchased the Smith family farm in 1949.
Mabelle was a 7th degree Grange member and served as Master of the Maysville Centre Grange. She was Church Secretary at the Presque Isle Congregational Church, taught Sunday School, and served on the Corporate Board for the A. R. Gould Memorial Hospital.
She enjoyed flowers, international travel, swimming, skating, camping, downhill and cross-country skiing, picnicking, the Maine coast, picking berries, bridge, playing piano, reading, and stays at the family camp on St. Froid Lake. She was active in the Quoggy Jo Ski Club.
In 2001, she established the Roger W. and Mabelle Ashworth Smith Scholarship at the University of Maine, and then in 2010, the Dr. John H. and Mabel Ashworth Scholarship, both for the benefit of Aroostook County students.
Mabelle combined stoicism, a fierce determination, and an unyielding sense of right and wrong, with an enjoyment of all things outdoors, generosity to charitable causes, and a mischievous sense of humor. She had a special love for her grandchildren.
A private service will be held later in the summer. In lieu of flowers, gifts may be given to the Roger W. and Mabelle Ashworth Smith Scholarship fund at the University of Maine Foundation, Two Alumni Place, Orono, ME 04469.
