Former Camden Select Board member Nanci M. Meisle, of Doylestown, Pa., died peacefully at home Feb. 10 after a long illness. She was 78. She deeply loved Camden, the Midcoast and all of her many Maine friends.

She was born in Appleton, Wisconsin. After marrying, Nanci and her young family moved often before finally moving east in 1970. After 30 years in New England, she and her husband, Bill, retired to Doylestown to be close to family and enjoy the pleasures and treasures of living there.

Nanci loved books and spent her working life as a bookseller. Her intellectual curiosity, and a desire to help others, led her to politics and humanitarian causes.

She was a two-term selectman for the town of Camden.

"I'll likely have the public restroom on the landing named after me, but it will be worth every minute I spent on the board," she often joked.

She read the Camden news until the end, often saying: "I think we'd better go back. They might need me!"

She is survived by her husband of 56 years, William Meisle, of Doylestown Borough; four children, Kathryn Meisle of New York City, William III (and Tami) of South Orange, N.J., Jennifer (and James) Savoie of Philadelphia, and Sarah (and Samuel Strickland) Meisle Winslow of Freeport.

She cherished, and was loved by, her six grandchildren Liam, Cole and Adam Meisle, Caroline Savoie, and Jacob and Miles Winslow; as well as her step-grandchildren, whom she quickly brought into her loving heart.

Memorial services in Camden will precede interment of her ashes on Monhegan Island at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, and in recognition of Nanci’s love of books and the written word, please support your local library or small town bookstores, and write real letters.