Nellie Howe (1909-2010)

FARMINGTON – Nellie Howe, 100, a resident of Orchard Park Rehabilitation and Living Center, Farmington, formerly of Greene, Farmington Falls and Wilton, died peacefully Wednesday afternoon, May 19, 2010.

She was born on June 25, 1909, in New Sharon, the daughter of Harold Tolman and Matilda Violet (Nickerson) Mason. She received her education in Mt. Vernon schools. At the age of 10, she lived with the Harry Pressy Family in Farmington Falls. She waited on tables and was a chambermaid as a young girl at the Billings Motel in Mt. Vernon and worked at the Candy Stick Factory in Vienna.

On Nov. 22, 1929, she married Clifford A. Howe. He died in 1980. During WWII, she worked for the Raytheon Corporation and had a Navy E pin for her work with radar. She also worked at Copley Shoe at Pioneer Plastic in Auburn. For 25 years, she took care of her husband who was in poor health.

She was a member of the Androscoggin and Pomonah granges, the Federation of Republican Women in Washington, DC and the Red Cross. She was a delegate for the Republican Party for George Bush. While residing in Massachusetts, she was baptized at the Old North Church. She was a member of the Greene Baptist Church and attended the Farmington Falls Church of the Nazarene. In her younger years, she enjoyed her classes at the Arthur Moore Dance School. Her hobbies included cooking and sewing.

She is survived by a sister, Linda Hastings of the Rumford Community Home, formerly of Vienna and a sister-in-law, Marion Drapeau, several nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by three brothers, Norman Tolman Mason, Hezekiah Mason and Ernest L. Trask; five sisters: Edna Davis, Madeline Metcalf, Lillian White, Goldie Easter and Mary Bowe.

Family and friends are invited to call at the Wiles Remembrance Center, 137 Farmington Falls Rd., Rtes. 2 & 27, Farmington, Sunday evening 6-8 PM. Funeral services will be held Monday morning at 10 AM from the Center. Committal services will be held Monday afternoon at 1 PM at the Valley Cemetery, Greene. Those who desire may give remembrance gifts to either the Greene Baptist Church or to the Nazarene Church Farmington Falls, Me. 04940. Condolences may be shared with her family at www.wilesrc.com.