BIDDEFORD — Dorothy Rae “Dot” “Nana” Guay, 88, passed away peacefully Sunday afternoon, Jan. 18, 2015 at Maine Medical Center after a brief illness.
Dorothy was born Oct. 20, 1926 in Biddeford, the fourth girl in a family of 6 girls.
Growing up in Biddeford, she met her husband of 69 years, Lucien D. Guay (who passed away one week ago), while they were still in high school.
She and Lucien were married while he was home on military leave on Saturday, July 7, 1945 in a ceremony that was planned in less than a week and held at St. Joseph’s Rectory in Biddeford. They honeymooned from July 7 to July 15 in a little cabin on Route 5 at Little Ossipee Lake in Waterboro. They were lucky, because it only rained one day and night, giving them fair weather for the rest of the week. They forgot to pack sugar for their morning coffee, so they tried using the frosting from the wedding cake. In their words, “It made the coffee taste awful!”
When Dot first married, she was a driving instructor in Saco for about two years and until late in her life, and from time to time, talked about how proud of this accomplishment she was.
Dot’s father-in-law was a cobbler and taught his trade to his son, Lou. He made his oldest son a pair of penny loafers while he was learning how to walk. Dorothy would then walk around town with her son in a stroller and sell baby shoes to people on the street simply because they liked what Lou had made.
While her husband Lou served in the Marines, and when he was stationed overseas, Dot would stay here in Biddeford with her family. Their son, Dwayne, was born while Lou was stationed somewhere in the South China Sea, which gave her the responsibility of raising a 14-year-old, a 7-year-old, and taking care of a new born baby.
When they moved back to Maine, they bought their first house on Clifford Street in Biddeford. There they had a large vegetable garden every year, raising everything from tomatoes, green peppers, radishes, carrots, cucumbers and corn to spinach and cauliflower. Dot was very proud of the garden and all of the relishes and pickles she was able to can from the produce harvested.
For many years, while Lou was in the Marines and a number of years afterwards, she didn’t work outside of the home because her family was more important. When she did decide to go back to work, her first job was at Martin’s Food Center in Saco (which eventually became Hannaford’s), where she worked in the deli as the sandwich maker. During her time working there, she won an award for making the most sandwiches in the chain. The title of the award was “Sandwich Queen,” after which she became known as Queenie to those in the store.
After deciding she needed a change of pace, she became a school bus driver for the Biddeford school system and drove for ten years. She also drove for 10 years for the Saco school system. Each Halloween and each Christmas, her bus was decorated to the hilt, and she would always be in some sort of costume. One year, she drove her bus all day dressed as Santa. She loved the kids on her bus, loved driving the school bus and was proud of the fact her bus was the best behaved bus in the system. If there was something Dot could do it was make children mind on the bus.
Dot was an amazing woman because when she made up her mind to do something, it was done. Period. For example, she smoked cigarettes from the time she was a young girl and for many decades. When she was about 65 or so, she decided she wanted to quit. And she did. Cold turkey, and never picked up another cigarette for the rest of her days.
While traveling with Lou here in the States, Dot became an accomplished bowler, winning many trophies, and once bowled a perfect 300. Lou, using his cobbler skills working with leather, made her a special leather bowling bag for her to carry her bowling ball and shoes. Everyone at the bowling alley wanted one.
Over the last 15 years or so, Dot loved to play Beano, and would play four times each week. She was driving herself to her games up until the last two weeks of her life, playing at the Rochambeau Club in Biddeford, the Elk’s Lodge in Saco and American Legion in Old Orchard Beach. She became known as “Nana” by her grandchildren and was extremely proud of her grandchildren, and subsequently her great-grandchildren.
With the arrival of her first grandchild, Dorothy became the doting grandmother. Her grandchildren wanted for nothing if she had any say in the matter. Anthony was her first grandchild, and when he was pre-school age, she would call him and ask if he wanted to go on vacation. He was always excited to visit with his grandparents because they had a pool. Simply put, Dot was taking her grandson for the weekend, sometimes for a week during the summer, and there was no stopping her when she made up her mind to take him.
About two and a half years before her death, she was blessed with her fourth great-grandchild, Nickolas. Both Dot and Lou loved him very much, and Nickolas became known as “The Big Guy.” When her children were visiting with Dot, she would say “You better be good or I’ll have the Big Guy after you!” and that became the family joke. Pictures of all their grandchildren and great-grandchildren were abundant throughout their home.
Over the course of their lives, Dot and Lou developed pet names for each other, he being “Father Time” and she being “Mother Nature.” Theirs was an undying and indelible love.
She is preceded in death by: her husband, Lucien D. Guay; and her sisters, Norma Coleman and Pauline Peacock-O’Brien.
Dorothy is survived by: her three children, David Guay of Old Orchard Beach, Debra Houle and her husband Steve of Biddeford, and Dwayne Guay of Lisbon Falls and his husband Marc Courchesne; her two grandchildren, Anthony Quatrano of Lisbon Falls and Danielle Quatrano of Biddeford; and four great-grandchildren, Blake, Riley and Samantha Quatrano of Lisbon Falls and Nickolas McPhee of Biddeford; many nieces and nephews; her sisters, Shirley Noble, Ethel Michaudo and Haroldine Trafford, all of Saco.
Friends may call at Cote Funeral Home, 87 James Street, Saco on Friday, Jan. 23 from 4-7 p.m. The funeral will be at 1 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 24, also at Cote Funeral Home. Interment will be following at Laurel Hill Cemetery on Beach Street in Saco. To sign the guest book or leave condolences, go to www.cotefuneralhome.com.
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