Frances Gail Hutchings, of Damariscotta and Inverness, Fla., passed away on April 26 under the tender care of the generous staff at Lincoln Health – Miles Campus and her family.
She was born Dec. 27, 1941, to Dorothy and Harry Percival of Alna. She was salutatorian of the Lincoln Academy class of ’59 and went on to graduate from the University of Maine. On April 27, 1963 she married George Hutchings Sr. and became the mother of his four children: Laura, Lena, LeeAnna and George Jr. In 1964 they completed their family with the birth of Fred. She was a member of the Daughters of the Revolution, the Garrison Hill Grange and the First Baptist Church of Inverness.
Frances and George were a hardworking couple. They ran a taxi in Nobleboro, then Larson’s Lunch Box in Damariscotta. Frances worked the lunch counter at the Damariscotta Bowling Alley; she was a matron at the Lincoln County Jail, and a rural delivery carrier for the U.S. Mail Service in Newcastle. She drove for Coastal Trans until she retired. The White Birches Mobile Home Park in Damariscotta is their entrepreneurial legacy.
Frances worked alongside her husband planting apple trees, building decks, sheds and well houses for many of the lots. But her greatest achievement is her family. She was a unifying force in lives of all the Hutchings children and the generation that followed. She was a devoted and loving wife, mother, sister, and grandmother – calm, and strong to the very end. She will be remembered for her gentle, kind and generous heart as well as a remarkable ability to spot four-leaf clovers and her delicious whoopie pies.
She is predeceased by her husband, George; siblings, Harry Percival Jr., Anne Percival, Sylvia Fitts, and Joseph Percival; daughter, Lena Eagan; and grandsons, Christopher Quintal, and Roy Benner Jr.
She is survived by sister, Ruth Gilbert; sister-in-law, Goldie Vezina; children, Laura Benner and husband Roy Benner Sr., LeeAnna Libby and husband John “Willis” Libby, George Hutchings Jr. and wife Sheila Hutchings, and Fred Hutchings; grandchildren, Naomi Jewett-Johnson, Widow Debbie Leavitt, Shalom Eagan Milani, Rachel Collamore, Jason Batchelder, Amanda Rattleff, Gabrielle “Gabster” Hutchings, and Benjamin Hutchings; and great-grandchildren, Brandon and Kylee Jewett, Hannah Johnson, James Benner, Ava and Logan Milani, Jeremiah Rattleff, Cecilia Child, and Parker, Fletcher and Bella Collamore.
She will be dearly missed by her family who were lucky to love her and be loved by her.
A time of visitation will be held from 5-7 p.m., Mon., April 30 at Hall Funeral Home, 949 Main St., Waldoboro where a funeral will be held at 1 p.m., Tues., May 1 with Pastor Rick Newell officiating.
To extend online condolences please visit www.hallfuneralhomes.com.
Halls of Waldoboro has care of the arrangements.
