Kathleen “Kitty” Cole Jones (1943 – 2015)

AUBURN – Kathleen “Kitty” Cole Jones, 71, of Carrabassett Valley passed away on May 19, 2015 at the Hospice House in Auburn, ending her months-long battle against pancreatic cancer. As the end approached, Kitty displayed the same courage, wit and serenity that had characterized her entire life.

Kitty was born in Sanford on Sept. 12, 1943, the daughter of Charles and Jessie (Steele) Cole.

She graduated from Sanford High School in the class of 1961, after which she studied nursing at Central Maine General Hospital (now CMMC) in Lewiston. She also attended the University of Maine in Farmington and was proud to have taken three years worth of classes at the Maine College of Art in Portland.

Her career was as varied as her education, including stints as a cosmetologist in Skowhegan, and ice cream shop proprietor on Wells Beach, a waitress at Trail’s End in Eustis, a banker in Kingfield, an accountant for a mill in Kingfield, and a clerk at various stores in the Sugarloaf area, most recently at the Western Maine Pharmacy in Kingfield. But her real occupation was as an artist.

“Her true passion and life’s work was her art,” said her daughter, Karen Moody.

Kitty exhibited her paintings at art shows throughout the state. Her work captured Maine scenes from Cape Elizabeth to Lubec, where she made an annual visit each year to paint. But most of her creations showed the western Maine mountains near her beloved home. She was a member of Upcountry Artists and High Peaks Artisans.

Kitty married Ron Moody in Wells in 1962. They had four children; Karen, Ronald (“Sam”), Mark and Heather. They moved to Kingfield in the early 1970s, but soon ended up in Carrabassett Valley, where she met the love of her life, Ted Jones. They married in 1984, and she settled into her studio on the edge of Packard’s Pool.

Kitty had a profound appreciation for the natural world that was reflected in her artwork, but also in her love for gardening and for raising a variety of livestock, from horses and rabbits to geese and hens. As daughter Heather Moody put it: “She could grow anything. Seriously. She was an awesome cook. Also, a fine witch doctor with herbs.”

She took in all the stray dogs her kids brought home and once picked one up at a lawn sale. She and Ted managed their land in a sustainable manner, including the woodlot they used for fuel to heat their house and barn. And she took recycling to new levels. Said Heather: “She never, ever threw away a mayonnaise jar.”

Kitty was active in her community, serving on the Carrabassett Valley Planning Board and Conservation Board. She was also involved in the early days of the Sugarloaf Area Chamber of Commerce and was active in promoting the Kingfield First Friday Art Walk. Her generosity was legendary. She cut her neighbors’ hair,shared the excellent maple syrup she and Ted made with her friends and made gifts of pickled eggs so good it seemed a shame to use eggs for any other purpose.

For more than a decade, during the coldest months of the year, Kitty and Ted hosted a large crowd of friends each Sunday afternoon for an outdoor event that featured two teams competing to hurl frozen plastic jugs down the ice on her pond toward three-ring targets at each end. This activity which came to be known as “hurling” was always followed by a pot luck dinner in Kitty’s wood-heated studio, where her guests tried not to spill soup on whatever paintings were in the works.

As an active member of the Farmington congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Kitty always enjoyed sharing her faith. Her conviction showed through in every aspect of her life, but particularly in her last days.

Kitty is survived by; her husband; her four children; her ex-husband; her grandchildren, Jason, Isaac, Ethan and Mason Moody, Matt Jabaut and Shannon Handrahan; her great grandchildren, Noah, Jason, Jake and Jaden Moody; her brother Larry Cole and wife Bonnie of Florida; her brother in-law, Larry Jones and wife Carol of Colorado; seven nieces and nephews.

Donations in Kitty’s memory may be made to The Hospice House of Androscoggin Home Care & Hospice, 15 Strawberry Ave., Lewiston, ME, 04240.

A service for Kitty will be held on Saturday, May 30, 2015 at 1 p.m. at the Kingdom Hall of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, 266 Fairbanks Rd., Farmington. Later that afternoon, there will be a gathering to remember her in the Town Hall Park in Carrabassett Valley.

Arrangements are under the care and direction of Dan & Scott’s Cremation & Funeral Service, 488 Farmington Falls Rd., Farmington, ME 04938.