Clara Hopkins (Campbell) Hathaway

    Hathaway, Clara, 103, December 6, 2010.  Arrangements by Bowers Funeral Home.  Interment to be held in the Island Falls Cemetery.
    ISLAND FALLS – She went out in a blizzard, and that was ‘just fine and dandy’ by her. Clara Hopkins (Campbell) Hathaway, 103, passed away peacefully in her sleep on Monday, December 6, 2010, at Mountain Heights Healthcare, Patten. She was born on February 5, 1907, in Island Falls, the fifth child of Seth Timothy and Mary Agnes (Hopkins) Campbell.
    Clara grew up in the home where she was born; she graduated from Island Falls High School in the class of 1923, and then attended Posse-Nissen College. She was a life-long outdoor woman who loved to canoe, hike, and climb the mountains of Maine.
    As a young woman, her sense of adventure led her to travel cross-country with two friends in a borrowed automobile. Their destination was the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles, and they camped out along the way in National Parks and farmer’s fields.
    After her sister Madeleine’s untimely death, Clara raised her sister’s children, Donald Foss Hathaway and James Kent Hathaway. In 1937, she married their father, Albion Foss Hathaway, in Sherman Mills, and they returned to Lewisburg, Pennsylvania where Foss worked for the Federal Prison Service. They later had the unusual experience of living on Alcatraz Island when Foss worked as a guard there. They returned to Island Falls in 1941.
    Clara and Foss had two children: a daughter, Mary Agnes, and a son, Seth Timothy.
    Clara played an active role in the life of Island Falls: she served as bookkeeper to the Water Company; cooked school lunches at the Crystal and Island Falls schools; served as librarian at the Katahdin Public Library; and boarded young teachers who taught in the high school. She was very active in the Whittier Congregational Church, was Worthy Matron in the Order of Eastern Star, and was a longtime member of the Katahdin Club as well. She was an avid bridge player and enjoyed regular games with her bridge club.  She participated in Republican Party politics; served countless church suppers; knitted baby blankets for those in need; and was a good neighbor. Her straight-forwardness and sense of humor will be remembered by all.
    Clara’s fondest memories were of outdoor activities with her friends and family. She often recounted the winter days where she snowshoed with friends, staying the night at farmhouses in Dyer Brook, Smyrna and Oakfield along the way. She climbed Katahdin seven times, and canoed the Allagash.
    Other cherished memories included taking her first ‘road trip’ in a borrowed car to Mount Desert Island, where her parents were from, and encountering her first stoplight in Old Town; following her children and grandchildren’s high-school sports teams, snow-sledding with friends and neighbors, and baking bread for her family and friends.
    In her later years she would travel to Bangor and Boston with her sister, Mary, and their friends to attend concerts. She especially enjoyed the Boston Pops and on Sunday afternoons in the winter, the Bangor Symphony.
    At age 95, she made her first trip to Scotland for her granddaughter Ruth’s wedding. At age 98, she was especially pleased to have her driver’s license renewed.
    Clara was an avid follower of the Boston Celtics. The highlight of her year was having her family home in August and joining them for their reunions at her granddaughter Keely’s camp on Pleasant Pond.
    Clara is survived by her daughter, Mary Sherwood, and her husband, Ted, of Hampden; sons, James Hathaway of Shin Pond and Tim Hathaway of Dallas, TX; granddaughters, Kate Sherwood Rumley and her husband, Russ, of Ottawa, Canada, Ruth Hathaway Storrie, and her husband, Dave, of Singapore, Keely Hathaway, Karen Hathaway and Crista Hathaway of Santa Barbara, CA, Anna Hathaway and her husband, Dan Gleason, of Chicago, IL; grandsons, Ben Sherwood of Seattle, WA, David Hathaway of Lewiston, ME, Tad Hathaway, and his wife, Laura, of Chicago, IL, Alan Hathaway of Santa  Barbara, CA, Eric Hathaway and his wife, Kim, of Canton, CT, Will Hathaway and his wife, Michelle, of Los Angeles, CA; daughter-in-law Katharine Hathaway of Chicago, IL; step-grandchildren Darlene McNally Scrivener and her husband, Larry, of Maquoketa, IA, Kerry McNally and his wife, Karen, of Patten, Susan McNally Smith and her husband, Randy, of Shin Pond; and many beloved great-grandchildren.
    She was predeceased by her husband, Foss Hathaway; her son, Donald Hathaway; her grandson, Craig Hathaway; and her daughter-in-law, Patti Hathaway.
    Clara’s family is especially grateful for the wonderful care she received from the caring and skilled staff at Mountain Heights Healthcare, Patten.
    Funeral services were held at the Whittier Congregational Church on Saturday, December 11, 2010 at 1 p.m. with Rev. Amanda Wagner officiating. Interment will be at Island Falls Cemetery.
    Remembrances may be made in Clara’s honor to Whittier Congregational Church, P.O. Box 404, Island Falls, ME 04747 or Katahdin Public Library, P.O. Box 148, Island Falls, ME 04747.