FALMOUTH — Virginia Lorraine Barchard, 92, died on Thanksgiving, Thursday, Nov. 25.

Born in Portland, Aug. 17, 1918, she was a daughter of Ruth (Nichols) and S. Arthur Paul, and graduated from Portland schools.

While on break from attending Colby-Sawyer College, she met the love of her life, Rex W. Barchard, and on Sept. 1, 1939, they began a remarkable and romantic marriage that continued even after his death in 1980.

She was an active member of First Parish Church Congregational in Yarmouth, and in later years, volunteered with Meals on Wheels, was a volunteer at Plummer-Motz School in Falmouth and was a Friend of the Falmouth Library.

Her life was centered around her husband, her family, their home, her neighbors and the ocean.

Possessing an incredibly positive and fun-loving spirit, she was an example to her daughters and her family with her admirable honesty, loyalty, empathy for others.

She readily expressed her pride of her daughters and grandchildren. All the grandchildren knew they were uniquely special to her by her genuine interest in their activities and being affectionately called “sweetheart.”

With her great love and expansive affection for everything and everyone, she truly was the center of the family.

She was predeceased by her husband Rex, a brother, Arthur “Bud” Paul, a sister, Eleanor Hough, and a grandson, John Wilson Pyles.

Survivors include her three daughters, Diane Higgins of Portland, Linda Pyles and her husband John of Falmouth, and Sally Barchard of Falmouth; five grandchildren, Susie, Christine, Betsy, Julie, and James; her six great-grandchildren, Amanda, Megan, Zoe, Sam, Conrad, and Rex, and great-grandchild Gracie, due on Christmas Day; two great-great-grandchildren, Ryan and Lilly; a sister, Phyllis Rhodes and her husband Robert of Old Town; and many nieces and nephews.

There will be a gathering for a Celebration of Life from 2 to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 4 at Lindquist Funeral Home, One Mayberry Lane, Yarmouth.

Please visit lindquistfuneralhome.com to view a video collage of her life and to share condolences, memories and tributes with the Barchard family.

Memorial donations can be made to the Falmouth Memorial Library, 5 Lunt Road, Falmouth, ME 04105.

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