Cellen Fowle died peacefully at home on Southport Jan. 24. She was 88.

Despite failing health in recent months, she remained a vital force in the lives of her children and grandchildren. Her home was a place to relax, reconnect and experience again and again the attention and generosity of a loving mother, grandmother, aunt and friend.

She outlived her husband, Evert Fowle, all her siblings and many of her friends. Despite such losses, her continued interest in and engagement with her family, her friends, current events and her garden revealed an extraordinary ability to accept what is and to be grateful. The recent political events were a challenge to her equanimity, but she trusted the country would return to its senses.

She often said she was the “victim” of a happy childhood and she entertained first her children and then her grandchildren with these stories. She went to Wellesley College and spent her junior year in 1947 Paris. She traveled all over Europe that year and her letters home portray a curious, albeit naïve, rather fearless young American woman who was welcomed, embraced, everywhere she went.

She liked being married. She liked being a mother. She liked teaching French to young children. Each April 19, she would walk down from her home in Lexington to Mass. Ave. to watch the early morning “town” parade. There she’d be regaled by a steady chorus of “Bonjour Madame” as wave after wave of former students filed by.

She and Ev moved aboard their boat in 1979 and lived on it for 20 years, returning to Southport most summers. They made friends easily, kept in touch and invited them to come to Maine and tie up at their dock. They sailed all along the East coast and Maine, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. They crossed the Atlantic three times, sailed the British Isles, the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. Later, they spent winters in the Caribbean and South America, bringing their boat back to Southport in the spring.

She is survived by her cat, Juno, and by Cellen and David Wolk of Palisades, New York and their children Sarah, Ben and Julia. She is also survived by Jef Fowle of New Orleans, Louisiana and his children John Ross, Johanna and Allison; Evert and Lori Fowle of Vassalboro, Maine and their children Evert, Hayden and Morgan; and by Janet Fowle of Damariscotta and her sons Max and Cole.

The family is grateful to her friend, Verna Lewis, who made it possible for her to live in her own home until she died. The family also wishes to thank Cindy Hagar and all the kind, conscientious women she sent to help during the last year or so. With Suzanne Cavalieri of Miles Home Health and Hospice, the family found a compassionate and trustworthy guide at the end.

In lieu of flowers, please make a contribution to the ACLU or Planned Parenthood.

We hope to meet with her friends and our large extended family this summer to celebrate her long and happy life.