As best her brother Matthew can deduce, Janice Beth Reale inherited her love of photography from their father. When they were kids, the four siblings would line up and smile on cue, whenever and wherever their father wanted them to pose.

“He would round us up and make us go stand in front of a tree or sit together on a bench,” Matthew Reale said. “I think that’s where Janice got her passion for art.”

That passion stayed with Reale throughout her life. An accomplished photographer, artist and writer, and devoted community volunteer, she died Thursday at her home in Cape Elizabeth. She was 57. She had been diagnosed with brain cancer in 2014.

She was born June 3, 1959, in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and lived many places, but had made her home in Cape Elizabeth for the past 17 years. She was known around town for her community history project, “I Remember Cape Elizabeth: Senior Stories, Extraordinary Memories.”

She began the project in 2007 to tell stories in words and photos of the town’s long-standing senior residents. She led classes to encourage residents to write their recollections on “memory cards,” which she collected and arranged for exhibition at Thomas Memorial Library in 2010 and 2013.

Two of the collections are on view at Cape Elizabeth Community Center and all are in the collection of the Cape Elizabeth Historical Preservation Society, where Reale worked as a program coordinator. She also initiated the first historical bus tours through town, which continue today.

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The town honored her work with a reception at the community center in November 2015.

Her brother said Reale’s dedication to her community was real and sincere. She chose Cape Elizabeth as her home because she felt it was the best place to raise her kids, Matthew and Olivia.

“She just loved the town and felt comfortable there immediately,” he said. “The best answer I can give is that she really cared about the community, and after she moved there she thought it was important to find out about the community not from reading a book, but from talking to people. That’s why she did her project. She said, ‘To be a part of the community, I must understand its history and its people.’ ”

Reale produced hand-painted black-and-white prints and cards. She completed photo projects for a Cape Elizabeth Community Services brochure, a local cookbook and a school directory.

She attended State Street Congregational Church in Portland, was a member of the Cape Triers triathlon group, and supported the Cape Elizabeth Land Trust.

She was also an active philanthropist. She raised $12,000 for the national Leukemia and Lymphoma Society by completing marathons in Dublin and San Diego, another $3,000 for the Maine Cancer Foundation, and raised money for the American Lung Association during the Trek Across Maine bike race, which she participated in five times.

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She also worked for VSA Arts in Portland and was an artist-support leader at the annual Festival of Nations event in Portland. She most recently worked as a customer service and sales representative for Solstice Corp. in South Portland.

She began her career as a physician assistant, beginning at Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Boston.

Matthew Reale said he will always remember how his sister faced her diagnosis and treatment.

“She had two surgeries, chemo, radiation, everything. She was determined to hang on as long as she could,” he said. “It was a very difficult disease, and she approached it all with enormous dignity.”

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday at State Street Congregational Church, 159 State St., Portland. The family will be present at 10 a.m., and a reception will follow.


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