ROCKLAND — Cathy Shaer, a writer, artist, and innkeeper (and wife, mother and grandmother), passed away peacefully in April at her home in Rockland, surrounded by family and friends. She was 76.

Cathy lived a varied and wonderful life, and she would have wanted an obituary that reflected all that variance and wonder, starting with a childhood on Long Island – where she was born and spent her earliest years – and Maine, a place she called her true home. A lifelong lover of animals, Cathy grew up horseback riding, a passion she passed down to her daughter, Emily, and two of her granddaughters, Mabel and Daisy. She loved to draw, too, and she would spend the rest of her life sketching and snapping photos of the things (and the people) she loved.

At the age of 13, Cathy went to England, to study at the Channing School in London; she returned to the States to attend Boston University, graduating with a degree in education. In her twenties, she married her first husband, Richard Shaer, and the couple traveled together around Europe and the US, before finally settling in Massachusetts.

Their son, Matt, was born in 1981, and their daughter, Emily, in 1983. Both were raised primarily in Andover, a suburb of Boston, and both attended the Pike School, where Cathy served several terms on the board of trustees.

There was not – and could never be – a better mother than Cathy. She poured all of herself into her kids; she gave everything to them. That “everything” included safety and security and a love of art and writing and the world at large, but also perpetual encouragement that they could do anything they set their mind to (despite that fact that sometimes they could not). Cathy was kind and patient and generous, even in the hardest of times. She had a fundamentally good, decent heart. The best heart, as anyone lucky to have seen her with her family can testify.

A few years after her first marriage ended, Cathy began planning a novel about an amateur archaeologist from Suffolk, in England. The book would feature many of the abundant historical treasures that have been unearthed in the area, and although Cathy knew her way around a dig site – she studied archaeology for a time at the University of Durham – she knew far less about Suffolk. For help, she sent an email to George Whisstock, a local sailor and boatbuilder whose name she found online. They struck up a correspondence and fell in love; soon, George had moved to the States to be with Cathy fulltime. The couple were married in 2002, and lived all over New England – in Andover, in Boston, in Camden, and in Rockland, in a nineteenth century home, the Captain Zadoc Brewster House, that they renovated by hand and filled with antiques and art, including photographs taken by Cathy. For the past decade, the Zadoc Brewster House has been one of the most popular rental properties in Midcoast Maine.

Cathy and George loved each other deeply. They were rarely apart; they traveled around the world together, and they ran the Zadoc Brewster House together, and they sailed together in the Penobscot Bay, with their good friend, Jim Chalfant. They were happiest in each other’s company, talking and drinking good wine (and marginal wine, and bad wine – it never mattered much). To be in their presence to be in the presence of truly unconditional love.

In her later years, Cathy threw herself into being a grandmother, traveling down to Massachusetts, to see Daisy, and spending long days in Bristol, where her son Matt and his wife, Katie, bought a vacation home. At the Bristol house, Cathy could be found reading book after book to Mabel and her little sister, Lorelei, or playing elaborate games of the girls’ design. Cathy never tired of being around her grandkids. She never objected to cries of “one more time!” or declined a request of “one more cookie!” The same qualities that made her such a wonderful parent also made her a wonderful grandmother, and Daisy, Lorelei, and Mabel will never forget her. To them, “Gramma Cathy” will live on in the stories she told, the letters she wrote, and the warmth she never failed to show them. She was, in every sense of the word, an inspiration.

In addition to Matt, Emily, George, Lorelei, Mabel, Katie, and Daisy, Cathy is survived by a brother, Bill; a son-in-law, Jesse; a step-son, James, and James’ daughters, Claire and Charlotte; a son-in-law, Jesse, and friends, near and far, and too numerous to count. Among them are Jim and Tony Poulston, who was at her side in her final days.

This summer, Cathy’s family will hold a private celebration of life in Bristol. There will be mosquitos, a bonfire, and plenty of good wine. And probably marginal and bad wine, too.

In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in memory of Cathy Shaer to support cancer research and patient care. Gifts should be directed to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, P.O. Box 849168, Boston, MA 02284 or arranged online at jimmyfund.org/gift.