PORTLAND – Susan Gale Ashton York-Wilbur died peacefully in her bed at home in the company of her daughter and caregiver, just before dawn, on Sunday, Oct. 13, 2019.

Susan Gale Ashton was born on Thursday, April 5, 1934, in Norway, Maine, the first child of Vincent H. Ashton and Thurley L.J. Tucker. She attended a one-room school house on the shore of Lake Pennesseewasse and started working at the family store, Ashton Pharmacy, while still in grade school. Susan graduated from Norway High School and attended Colby College before transferring to and graduating from the University of Maine at Orono in 1956. During her junior year at UMO she married John W. York, her high school sweetheart. In 1956, Susan gave birth to her first child, Jay, at the U.S. Army infirmary in Aberdeen, Maryland. A favorite story was that within a few hours of giving birth she was handed a mop and told to police her area. Their second son, George, was born a year later followed by their daughter, Catherine, two years after that.

Susan and John York moved to Kennebunk, Maine, in 1957 where she became an active member of Christ Church and developed a lifelong friendship with the then minister, Fred Holmberg. She organized a multi-denominational religious arts festival, OpenWide, which brought many prominent performing and visual artists to the area. While raising three children, Susan started teaching home economics at Kennebunk High School in 1971 as well as returning to school herself. In 1974, she received her Masters in Education and started working as a guidance counselor, first at Bonney Eagle High School, and then at Wells High School, until retiring in 1994.

Susan was a skilled seamstress. She was taught to sew by her grandmother Ashton and continued to make clothes, costumes, quilts and bags her entire life. She loved nature, was an avid gardener, and relished her daily walks alone and with friends. Susan was an excellent cook and enjoyed hosting family gatherings around a meal. She especially enjoyed the large Thanksgivings hosted at her son, Jay’s.

Skiing was a passion. She started as a child sidestepping up a hill next to her friend Valerie’s house in Norway so she and her friends could ski down. In 1960, her father told her about a little mountain in Greenwood that was switching from being used for logging to skiing … Mt. Abram. In 1964, three families from Kennebunk, the Holmbergs, Packards, and Yorks, commissioned the Kennebunk High School shop students to prefab a small chalet that would be assembled at Mt. Abram. For the next 10 years Susan would drive a station wagon full of kids to Mt. Abram to ski weekends and winter vacations. Susan continued skiing at the mountain with her father “Vinnie” a ski instructor, her friends (especially Chummy Hamilton), and her son Jay also a ski instructor. When Susan turned 80, Mt. Abram presented her with a lifetime ski pass which she used up until and during the 2017-2018 season.

Susan remarried in 1979 to John Wilbur. After her retirement from Wells High School and while living at her self designed dream home on Bufflehead Cove Road in Kennebunk Lower Village she and her husband traveled extensively all over the world. Susan was a lifelong dedicated volunteer. For many years, Susan served on the board of Day One an organization for the prevention and treatment of youth substance use and mental health. She and John were both avid investors and she joined a women’s investment group in 1998 where she was an active member for 21 years. Upon the death of her husband in 2011, Susan moved to a small condo in Portland to be closer to her two sons, and there cultivated new friendships, enjoying going to concerts and art exhibits.

Susan was predeceased by her brother, Johnny Ashton, her first husband, John York, her second husband, John Wilbur, and her stepson, Johnny Wilbur. She is survived by her three children, Jay, George, and Catherine York, and by her daughter-in-law Jessica; her two sisters, Linda Richards and Sharon Poulin, and their children and grandchildren; her nieces, Carla, Alicia, and Alan along with their spouses and children and grandchildren. Also by stepdaughter, Jane Perlowski, husband, John and son, Joey; stepdaughter, Susie Collier and husband, David; stepgrandson, Ben Wilbur and wife, Katie, along with sons, Ronan and Quilan.

A celebration of Susan’s life will be held at 58 Wilmot Street, Portland, in the Last Church on the Left, on Sunday, October 27 at 1 p.m.

Please visit www.advantageportland.com to sign Susan’s guestbook and leave memories and condolences for the family.

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