Nancy Standish Cain McGuire, 90, of Damariscotta, died at her home on July 25, after a long illness. She was born on Dec. 14, 1918 in Detroit, Mich., the daughter of John Lee and Eloise Standish Cain. She and her sister Sally grew up surrounded by many cousins and their grandmother. As a child, Nancy showed an interest and ability in art. She attended Detroit schools and graduated from Grosse Pointe High School in the class of 1936, along with her future husband, Robert McGuire. She then attended the Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts for two years.
Nancy and Robert were married on Aug. 30, 1941. She worked at Best & Company for three or four years and studied silversmithing in the evenings. When Robert was granted a fellowship at Indiana University, they moved to Bloomington, Mich., where she resumed her education in art, studying sculpture with Robert Laurent and watercolor with Harry Engel. While they were in Bloomington, Mich. they participated in a study with Dr. Kinsey which became known as The Kinsey Report.
The couple lived in Romeo, Mich. for 17 years, where they brought up their two daughters, renovated two old houses and ran an antique shop. Nancy did much of the carpentry herself. They spent their summers on Academy Hill in Newcastle in another of their renovation projects, which eventually numbered six. While in Romeo, Nancy was a member of the Monday Club and was active in the Romeo Players, a local theater group. Most of her contribution to their productions was backstage, but gradually she found she enjoyed acting, in spite of being very shy.
Nancy had a basement workbench where she created unique jewelry in sterling silver with antique beads. She exhibited and sold many pieces, some of which were pictured in Harper’s Bazaar magazine. While living in Glencoe, Md., she began experimenting with the medium for which she became best known–sculpture, made from abandoned objects and recycled material–bits of weathered wood, rusty iron, and other objects that she transformed into birds, animals, and primitive masks and abstract constructions. People often gave her old rusted tools and other bits they had lying around, and she would incorporate them into her pieces. For nearly 40 years, she built these whimsical and satiric creations, showing her work in group and solo exhibits, in galleries from Maine to Florida.
The McGuires winterized their Newcastle house in 1967 and moved to Maine year round. They were very active members of the Round Top Center for the Arts, serving on the board of directors for the first ten years. Nancy achieved another of her goals when she earned her Bachelors Degree from the University of Maine at the age of 62, majoring in psychology.
Nancy was an artist, an inventive cook, a self-taught carpenter, and she designed and made most of her striking and unusual clothes. She was known by her family and friends for her kindness, wit and charm, and her resourcefulness and creativity in everything she did.
She is survived by her husband of 68 years, Robert Graham McGuire; daughters and sons-in-law, Phoebe and John Nichols and Susan and Bruce Beaudette; sister, Sally Price; grandson, Sam Nichols; step-grandchildren, Liz Bordman and Jack Nichols; and four great-grandchildren.
Arrangements are under the direction and care of the Strong-Hancock Funeral Home, 612 Main St., Damariscotta.
