Marian M. "Molly" White

Marian M. 'Molly' White, 83 SOUTH FREEPORT -- Marian Morton 'Molly' White of South Freeport, passed away at the age of 83 in the company of her loving family after a three year battle with parathyroid cancer. Molly was born in Cambridge, Mass., the eldest child of Marcus and Margaret (Miner) Morton. Molly attended the Shady Hill School, Buckingham Preparatory School and graduated from Smith College. Upon graduation, she married her beloved husband of 61 years, John W. L. White of Falmouth Foreside and Portland, whom she met when he was in training to become a U.S. Naval officer while attending MIT. Marian's parents invited many USN students to their Cambridge home for Sunday suppers and young John turned out to be the 'lucky one!' Molly and John purchased their home at 5 Harraseeket Road in South Freeport, overlooking the Harraseeket River, in 1946, where they have resided ever since. In South Freeport they raised a family of four children, many dogs and cats, chickens, rabbits, pigs, sheep and one goat named Maybasket. They have enjoyed a lifetime of local community activity and friendships in Freeport and the greater Portland area. Molly always had a strong sense of community spirit and gave tirelessly of herself for the benefit of her village and its residents. Serving the Freeport, Brunswick, and Portland communities, she was formerly a board member of the Young Peoples Theater in Brunswick, a founding member of the Freeport Community Services, and was active in the Freeport Woman's Club, including serving as president 30 years ago. Molly was also very proud of her work with the Colonial Dames and, in particular, the restoration and preservation of the Tate House in Portland where she especially enjoyed giving tours to 5th graders. She was a former vice chairman for the Freeport school division of the Portland United Way, a staunch member of the Portland Junior League, and throughout her lifetime, actively served with the South Freeport Church (UCC) including a term as chairperson of the pastoral search committee, president of the parish for 10 years during the period of major renovations, a deaconess, superintendent of the Sunday school, and tirelessly supporting other church activities and her many loved and loving neighbors. Molly also spent one term of office on the Freeport School Committee and was active in the local Teachers Association. She was fiercely loyal to Smith College, her alma mater, a member of the alumni association since 1948, and the chairman of her 30th reunion class. She is still known by her college nickname 'Mike' to her many Smith colleagues. John always declared that it was her 'Smith HomEc course' that taught her to be such a good cook. Once her children were active in the Freeport school system, Molly became the librarian at Freeport Middle School, the first person to hold this position. She organized and developed a multi-media resource center, along with Sally Rand her Smith classmate, which laid the foundation for the current middle school library system in Freeport. She held a master's degree in Library Sciences from the University of Southern Maine. She also previously worked as a laboratory technician in the Bowdoin College biology department. All this, while raising and helping support her young family! Along with her commitment to her community, Molly was a dedicated mother to her four children and both she and her husband actively participated with them in all manner of activities, including skiing, first in their own backyard and later at Sugarloaf. They cruised the Maine Coast every summer aboard their 32' lobsterboat, the MOLLYMAUK. These annual cruises, in the company of numerous other So Freeport neighborhood boats and families, were a highlight of the year as these 'boat gypsies' roamed the coast in search of the next unexplored 'gunkhole.' Molly and John made friends everywhere they cruised, as far north as Grand Manan and the St. John's River in New Brunswick, and as far south as Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard. They had guest moorings waiting for them wherever Marian M. 'Molly' White Jones, Rich & Hutchins Funeral Home & Cremation Service 775-3763 they ventured and they always offered a mooring to old and new friends from all over the world when fellow cruisers came to visit the Harraseeket River. She and John sailed the coast first in their trusty 16' open cockpit SKIDDART and later aboard their 30' Pearson, BANJO, and finally, until two years ago, aboard their Morgan 38, SNOWBIRD. In recent years, they spent several months during the winter in Punta Gorda, Fla., where they continued to build a strong 'community' of close friends and enjoy the natural environment especially a nesting family of bald eagles and the burrowing owls who live near their condo community at Whispering Pines. Molly was a star crab picker and offered a Ph.D. ('Picker's Highest Degree') in Crabology to her many students who joined her in preparing the Maine delicacy! John caught the crabs and lobsters aboard the MOLLY W, radioed ashore to report his catch to 'Molly W Base' and Molly got the pot boiling! Molly also spent many summers since her early childhood on Yarmouth Island in Quahog Bay where she learned to love island solitude and nature passing that love on to her children and grandchildren and now great-grandchildren. She and John harvested many a tasty fiddlehead along the banks of the Carrabassett River in Kingfield and eventually transplanted them to Yarmouth Island and their own backyard. Their fertile garden, which grew everything from rhubarb to asparagus, raspberries and Concord grapes (known to be stomped into sweet wine) was their pride and joy! Although born in Cambridge, Mass., Molly lived most of her life as a down-to-earth 'Maine-Mum' enjoying the harvest of the sea, making sea moss pudding, lobster and crab dishes du jour, and delighting in the joys of the Maine Coast, summer and winter. John often bragged that she passed 'the redfish test' when he took her lobstering for the first time and she did not turn her nose up at a good ripe bucket of bait. Upon passing this test, he declared, 'She's a 'keeper'!' Molly was one of the founding members of the Harraseeket Yacht Club. She and Harry Parker held the first sailing classes for children in her living room where they used pieces of wood with attached paper sails employing a small electric fan to demonstrate the fine art of sailing during the deep winter months. Molly is survived by her husband, John W. L. White; and her children, Benjamin and wife Judy, with their daughter, Emily, of Brookline, Mass.; Marian Blackwell, her husband, David, and their son, Adam, of Groveland, Mass.; Nathaniel Warren-White and his wife Betsy of South Freeport and their son, Joshua, of Oakland, Calif.; Martha and her husband James Burns of South Freeport, and Martha's children, Julie Kimber and her husband Michael of Brunswick, and Asher Nichols and his wife Susan of Chestnut Hill, Mass. She also leaves behind three wonderful great-grandchildren Will, Esme and five month old Molly Kimber. In addition, Molly Sr. is survived by her beloved sisters, Lea Johnson and her husband Mel of Shreveport, La., and Peggy Morton of Eugene, Ore.; as well as many far-flung, devoted nieces and nephews. A memorial service celebrating Molly's life will be held at the South Freeport Church on Thursday, Oct. 2, 2008, at 2 p.m. Arrangements are under the direction of Jones, Rich & Hutchins Funeral Home, 199 Woodford St., Portland. You are invited to share your thoughts, condolences and fond memories with the White family by visiting Molly's guest book at www.mem.com. For anyone wishing to make a donation in Molly's memory, gifts would be gratefully received by the: South Freeport Church South Freeport, Maine 04078 The Tate House 2 Waldo St. Portland, Maine 04102 the Freeport Community Center 53 Depot St. Freeport, Maine 04