Obituary

Edna M. Lord

Thu, 05/02/2013 - 9:30am

Edna Miriam Bradford Lord, 105, of Norway, Maine died on January 29, 2013.

She was born on August 31, 1907 in Rangeley to Harry and Ethel Bradford. Her parents relocated a few times to different teaching positions throughout Maine. Her father became the principal of Kingfield High School. Edna roomed with her father and graduated from Kingfield High in 1924. Her mother and younger siblings, Bill, George, Rachel and Gayle, stayed back in Wiscasset and tended to a large apple orchard.

She met her husband, Lawrence Lord, while they both were working at a summer resort in Naples. They were married October 15, 1927, and after living in Naples for two years, they moved to Bolsters Mills in Harrison, where she resided for the next 85 years and where they raised their three daughters, Barbara, Laurene and Diana.

Edna resumed elementary school teaching for 30-plus years when the girls were teenagers; first in Bolsters Mills until the school was closed, and then at Harrison Village School until she retired.

Edna and her husband enjoyed very much having their daughters and their husbands and families visiting over the weekends and during holidays and vacations, in their plenty-of-room home with plenty of home grown foods.

She was very active in community affairs; Crooked River Grange meetings, dances and Thanksgiving dramas were big in those days in Bolsters Mills. A member of Pomona State and National Grange, she was also a member of Elmvale Chapter 105 of the Order of the Eastern Star in Bolsters Mills for more than 80 years. She always held an office, the last one was “Esther” when she was 103 years old. At 90 she was elected “Worthy Matron.”

At her 100th birthday, attended by 300 or more family, friends and former students, she sang two songs of her time, “Beautiful Ohio” and “My Tin Lizzie” (Model T Ford), to perfection and she received a standing ovation.

Edna was predeceased by her husband Lawrence, daughter Laurene, grandchildren Gloria Gene Chaplin, Lawrence “Butch” Wiedemann and Douglas Mattor, and a great-granddaughter Diana Elsie Buck.

She is survived by: daughters, Barbara Dalgaard and husband and Diana Connell and husband; cousin, Dorothy Bradford; sister-in-law, Ruth Lord; seven grandchildren; 19 great-grandchildren; nine great-great grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, May 18 at 2 p.m. at the Bolsters Mills United Methodist Church. For those who wish to make a donation in Edna’s memory, her wishes are as follows: Bolsters Mills United Methodist Church, P.O. Box 859, Harrison, ME 04040, Elmvale Chapter, O.E.S. #105, c/o Janice Fogg 337 U.S. Route One, Freeport, ME 04032 or Woolwich Grange #68, c/o Patty Bridgham, 102 Willow Lane, Wiscasset, ME 04378.

Arrangements are under the direction of Chandler Funeral Homes and Cremation Service, South Paris. Online condolences may be shared with her family at www.chandlerfunerals.com/.