OWLS HEAD - Eleanor Stanley, 95, passed away peacefully on Jan. 30, 2017, at the Sussman House in Rockport.

She was born Eleanor Payson in 1921 in South Thomaston (the same year that town became Owls Head). She had a wonderful childhood with two sisters and a brother. Her parents were poor but made up for it with a loving home. Going to school was easy when she was young, as the one-room schoolhouse was just a short distance from her house, but in high school she had to walk to the Rockland High School every day from Owls Head. When she graduated high school she didn't have enough money to go on the class trip to Washington and had to wave to her friends as the bus left town.

After high school she trained as a nurse and took a summer job with her sister, Vera, at the shipyard in South Portland cleaning liberty ships and then because of the war she left and joined the Navy. She was a nurse stationed at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina taking care of wounded soldiers as they came back from Europe.

After the war she married Kenneth Mathieson and had two children, Craig and Susan, only to lose Kenneth five years later to cancer. Eleanor moved back to Owls Head to be closer to her family and lived on Ingraham’s Hill for seven years with her two children. She met Norman Stanley in 1963 and was happily married to him for the next 53 years until Norman’s passing on Oct. 22, 2016. Her focus was always on her family and she was overjoyed when her granddaughter, Heather, arrived. Taking care of Heather as she grew up gave her much pleasure.

She was a strong-minded woman who loved taking care of her house and cooking. If the house needed painting she would be out painting or shingling or shoveling snow. She was also very active in her church (Rockland Congregational) and the Owls Head Garden Club and other town activities. Many times she would be helping out with the town suppers put on at the Owls Head Central School or putting a parade float together for the Owls Head Day celebrations.

Eleanor will be missed by her family and friends and is survived by her son, Craig Mathieson; her daughter, Susan Dumond; her granddaughter, Heather Dumond; her sister, Vera Mathieson; and her brother, Albert Payson and his wife, Audrey; along with many nieces and nephews.

Friends and relatives are invited to visit Thursday, Feb. 9, from 5 to 7 p.m. at Burpee, Carpenter & Hutchins Funeral Home, 110 Limerock St. in Rockland. A graveside service is planned for Friday, June 9, at 11 a.m. at Ocean View Cemetery on Spruce Head Road (Route 73) in South Thomaston. The Rev. Seth D. Jones will officiate.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Rockland Congregational Church, Abiding Memorial Fund, P.O. Box 554, Rockland, ME 04841, or the Alzheimer's Association Maine Chapter, 383 U.S. Route One, Suite 2C, Scarborough, ME 04074.