Lois Gowen, a former Portland teacher’s aide and longtime secretary at Deering High School, died Thursday after a period of declining health. She was 86.
Mrs. Gowen was remembered by her family Thursday as a patient, kind and giving woman who made a difference in many lives.
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She worked for the Portland School Department for about 23 years, first as a teacher’s aide at the former Reed School and North School.
Her daughter, Janice Soucy of Windham, said she loved working with children.
“She loved teaching,” her daughter said. “She adored children. It was a great fit for sure. The kids loved her. She treated them as her own.”
Mrs. Gowen spent the next 12 years or so at Deering High School, where she worked as a secretary in the main office. She retired in 1993.
The work came naturally to Mrs. Gowen, who once worked as a legal secretary in Portland for five years.
She stopped working to raise her two children.
She was a loving wife of Roger Gowen. The couple lived in Portland.
Soucy described her mother as a woman who devoted her life to her family.
Her daughter said she looked forward to family gatherings and enjoyed cooking for the family.
“She was wonderful,” her daughter said.
“She was always looking out for us. She loved taking care of us. Family time was so important to her.”
Mrs. Gowen and her husband were active members of Westbrook Seniors and the Riverton Couples Club. Soucy said her parents shared a good life together.
“They did a great job raising us. They worked well together,” she said of her parents. “She was the more serious of the two. He was a jokester. She had to keep him in line a little.”
Mrs. Gowen was also active in the Italian Heritage Club and the Riverton Bowling League. Her daughter said she bowled at Westport Bowling Lanes and was on a bowling league for at least 12 years.
She also enjoyed playing golf, going to the theater, traveling, dancing, sewing and crocheting.
Asked what Soucy admired most about her mother, she said her kindness.
“So many people knew her and recognized her,” she said.
“We couldn’t go anywhere without her recognizing someone she remembered from back in the day. She knew a lot of people in the community.”
Melanie Creamer can be contacted at 791-6361 or at:
Twitter: MelanieCreamer
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