Obituary

Jacqueline June Watts, obituary

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 10:15am

LINCOLNVILLE — Jacqueline June (Young) Watts passed away Sept. 27, 2013, surrounded by her loving family at home in Lincolnville. She was born June 4, 1945, and was the daughter of Bernice (Lermond) and Ivan Young of Millertown in Lincolnville. In 1952 the family moved to the Youngtown Corner Farmhouse.

Jackie attended grades one through eight at Lincolnville Central School. Her mother, father and sister, Judy, moved to 3 Alden St. in Camden in 1959 with great great-aunt Edith Lermond. She enjoyed playing saxophone and taking field trips with the high school band and graduated in the Class of 1963 at Camden High School.

Jackie married Maurice R. Watts of Rockport Dec. 25, 1965. After Maurice served three years in the Army, including a year in Vietnam, they moved to the Lincolnville Center in October 1971.

Jackie's employment included as a cashier for the A&P Grocery Store in Camden and First National Stores in Camden and Rockland; a typesetter for the Camden Herald and the Free Press; secretary for Knox County Head Start; secretary/librarian for Lincolnville Central School; activities aide for Camden Health Care Center; office manager for the local Chamber of Commerce; and executive assistant for Ray & Ann Williamson of Maine Windjammer Cruises in Camden from 1994-2008.

Jackie was a baptized member of the United Christian Church and at one time taught Sunday school there. She enjoyed working with children and had several teen clubs over the years, entering floats in the Lobster Festival and organizing Halloween parties. She was den mother and also was proud to serve as cub master of Cub Scout Pack #244, in order to keep the troop from disbanding.

In 1976 Jackie organized the first canoe race from Barrett's Cove to Nortons Pond, which was continued yearly by Camden Parks and Recreation. She volunteered on the community birthday calendar from the 1970s thru 2004.

In 1975, Jackie founded the Lincolnville Historical Society with the assistance of a dozen dedicated other townspeople. She served as president from 1975-1985, and during that time, published four-scrapbook histories for the Society and initiated a town museum, first in the old telephone dial office building in the Center and later the Schoolhouse Museum at the beach with her good friend, Diane O'Brien.

Jackie and her cousin, Isabel Morse Maresh, published Camden-Rockport and Lincolnville Births, Deaths and Marriages; Camden Herald news clippings; and with Isabel and Don Young, the Young Family Genealogical Workbook.

She was a member of the Lincolnville Volunteer Fire Dept. from 1979 to Jan. 1994 while her husband Maurice served as fire chief. She served as radio operator and provided fire prevention materials for the school.

Jackie thought education was important and continually took classes to improve her personal and work related life, including CPR, First Aid and First Responder Courses. She also attended college from 1992-1994 at UMA, Thomaston.

In 1987 the Camden-Rockport-Lincolnville Chamber of Commerce honored her at the annual dinner with a plaque that read: "Special Recognition Award to Jackie Watts for her Outstanding Service to the Town of Lincolnville." She helped with Lincolnville's 2002 Bicentennial and was honored by her peers as parade marshal.

From 1970-1980, she enjoyed the family pets, Debbie the horse and the long-time family dog, Poopsie. Jackie also enjoyed camping with her family, making it an annual family tradition to go to the White Mountains and Fryeburg Fair since 1979. Since the early 1990s, she was a regular in the YMCA pool exercise classes until 2008. She believed strongly in family commitment, often having Sunday dinner gatherings on non-occasions and celebrating holidays and family occasions.

On April 3, 2008, Jackie was diagnosed with stage four peritoneal/ovarian cancer. Her husband, Maurice, had been diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer in February 2008. They were both overwhelmed by the help and support of the fire department members, the community, and family and friends, individually and collectively, at a town fundraiser in their honor.

She was predeceased by her husband; a brother, Lewis A. Young; and a brother-in-law, Peter Rolerson. Surviving are her son, Christopher and his wife, Tammy; her daughter, Susan and her husband, Brandon Allen; her daughter Sally; her sons, Bentley and his wife, Aimee, and Jay and his wife, Stacy; her daughter, Sherrie and her husband, Rob Messier, of Franklin, N.H.; 13 grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; her brother, Bernard Young and his wife, Rachel; and two sisters, Rosemary Winslow and her husband, George and and Judith Rolerson.

In lieu of flowers, donations in her memory may be made to the Lincolnville Historical Society, P.O. Box 204, Lincolnville, ME 04849 or the United Christian Church, P.O. Box 288, Lincolnville Center, ME 04850.

A Memorial Service will be held Sunday, Oct. 6, at 2 p.m. at the United Christian Church in Lincolnville with the Rev. Dr. Susan Stonestreet officiating.

Arrangements are with Long Funeral Home & Cremation Service in Camden. Condolences and memories may be shared with the Watts family by visiting their book of memories online at the funeral home.