Eleanore Godfrey Thorpe, 84, died peacefully on May 29 after a long illness at St. Andrew’s Gregory Wing in Boothbay Harbor. She was born in Gardner, Mass., the second daughter of Henry and Blanche Godfrey, where she graduated from Gardner High School.
She was married in 1942 to her husband, John Geyer Thorpe of South Bristol, and had children Katie Thorpe Bryant of Newcastle, who died in 1989, Henry Thorpe of Haddam, Conn., and John Thorpe Jr. of Newcastle.
She was a talented and enterprising woman who ran a successful doughnut business out of her home from 1962 to 1969, farmed a small vegetable garden, selling produce in local farmers’ markets in the 1970s, and finally, taking up Norwegian folk painting known as Rosemaling, she put out a huge volume of decorated pieces which were sold in Maine craft shows.
She was a dedicated mother, avid reader, and knitter; active in Girl Scout, community leadership, and church activities. She was a supportive wife to her husband John, to whom she was married for 59 years until his death in February 2001. They sailed John’s Friendship, the Ellie T, out of Christmas Cove, and then his catboat, the Eleanore, out of Newcastle.
She is survived by a sister, Elizabeth (Betty) Jackson of Pittsford, N.Y.; sons, Henry and John; grandchildren, Nathaniel and Jonathan Bryant (sons of Paul Bryant of Newcastle), Courtney and Brooke Thorpe of Haddam, Conn., and Benjamin, Christa and David Thorpe of Newcastle.
A service is being planned for later this summer at the North Woolwich Methodist Church in Woolwich.
Arrangements are entrusted to the care of Strong Funeral Home and Cremation Center, 612 Main St., Damariscotta.