Keirstead, Phyllis, 77, Brunswick; in Brunswick, March 20, 2009. Friends and family are invited to visit 9-10:30 a.m. Saturday, March 28, 2009 at the Bracket Funeral Home, Brunswick. Funeral service will immediately follow at 11 a.m. at the First Parish Church, Brunswick. Arrangements in the care of Bracket Funeral Home, Brunswick.
Brunswick – God received a great gift in Phyllis “the angel” Keirstead who passed peacefully in the arms of her four daughters, Friday March 20, 2009. She was born March 1, 1932, in Presque Isle, ME a daughter of Wallace Ingley and Lillian Ella Dow Higgins. 
She was a graduate of Mapleton HS and received her nursing degree from New England Baptist Hospital, Boston, MA – 1953. She married Leighton Russell Keirstead in Mapleton, ME on October 17, 1953. Although a registered nurse by profession, she was a caregiver by nature. The Keirsteads moved back to Maine from Brevard, NC in 2006. Here, she continued to care for and nurse her husband’s health, tirelessly and devotedly. Her family knows she continues to look over him and will be warming the bench for the love of her life.
She is predeceased by a son Ronald Keirstead in 1981 and a grandson, Jonathan Tetreault in 2008. She is survived by her husband, Leighton; four daughters and three sons-in-law, Donna Carr of Windsor Locks, CT, LuAnn and Stanley Rogala of Walpole, ME, Rhonda and Mike Tetreault of Southwick, MA, Karla and Jeff Larsen of Southwick, MA; a brother, Malcolm Higgins of Candia, NH; two sisters, Esther Ward of Wilmington, DE, Jennie Jamieson of Butler, PA; six grandsons Keith and Peter Carr, Tim Stiles, Chris and Mikey Tetreault, Korey Larsen and eight great-grandchildren.
Friends and family are invited to visit 9-10:30 a.m. Saturday, March 28, 2009, at the Brackett Funeral Home, 29 Federal Street, Brunswick. A funeral service will immediately follow at 11 a.m. at the First Parish Church, Maine Street, Brunswick, with her brother-in-law, the Reverend Dr. William Jamieson officiating. For those unable to attend, condolences can be expressed at www.brackettfuneralhome.com. Memorial contributions can be made to the Maine Veterans Home, 310 Cony Road, Augusta, Maine 04330.
