FALMOUTH – Verna (Wallace) Andrews died surrounded by family on Jan. 12, 2022 at Ocean View in Falmouth where she had made her home for the last 10 years.

Verna was born in Bath on Feb. 26, 1926, to Stanley B. and Eva (Small) Wallace, the youngest of seven children. All the children were born at home. When one sister was told that the doctor had brought a new baby sister, she said, “Take her back – we have enough kids!” So that was her welcome to the world. Growing up together was not to be, as her mother died when Verna was an infant, and the family was separated.

After her father remarried, they were together again until he was killed when Verna was 7. She went to Connecticut to live with her aunt and uncle but returned to Maine as a teenager and attended Morse High School in Bath and graduated from Cape Elizabeth High School. Verna graduated from the University of Maine in 1949. A month after graduation, she married Frederick P. Andrews, her high school sweetheart.

Verna taught for a year in the Home Economics Department at U. Maine while Fred finished his degree. They then moved to South Portland. Fred was hired by Pitney Bowes, and they moved to Bangor where they lived for eight years. They returned to southern Maine in 1959 and lived in Cape Elizabeth for 53 years.

Verna worked as an assistant librarian at Cape Elizabeth High School for 10 years retiring in 1979. Later, she worked for the Grace Gallery in Harpswell as an antique map colorist.

Verna was active in her daughters’ Girl Scout Troops; She was a 60-year member of the First Congregational Church UCC in South Portland where she served as an Elder and past Senior Deaconess, chaired the library committee, organized the first food pantry there, and started the SERVV committee. Verna was a past president of the Portland Alumnae of the University of Maine. She was a former member of the Portland Museum of Art Guild and participated in the Cape Elizabeth Art League. She had served as the secretary of the state committee of Heifer Project International and was a Red Cross volunteer.

She and Fred loved to travel, attending his Army division’s annual reunions in the United States and extended visits to The Netherlands where his division liberated the town of Heerlen in WWII. One unique trip with Heifer Project was delivering a school bus from Maine to the San Lucas Toliman mission school in Guatemala. The couple also took cruises to Alaska and Panama, and explored England, Scotland, and Wales.

Verna will be remembered as a loving mother, resourceful homemaker, and the best kind of neighbor. She delighted in visits with her grandchildren and her treasured great-granddaughter, who knew her as “Nanny.” A clothing major in college, Verna was an accomplished seamstress and made clothing for her family, granddaughters, and friends. She was an avid reader and loved sharing her books. Verna loved visual arts and home décor, and she took lessons in watercolor and calligraphy. She created collages and notecards until her death.

Verna was predeceased by her loving son, Mark; beloved husband, Fred; sisters Evelyn B. Wallace, Maxine Wallace Cahill, Frances Wallace Ward, and brothers Stanley B. Wallace Jr., John “Jack” E. Wallace, and Elmer S. Wallace.

She is survived by her daughters Julia Andrews White, and her husband Richard, of Scarborough, and Ellen Andrews Randall, and her husband David, of Wayne; her grandchildren Marie McIntire and husband William, Lisa White and fiancé Eric Rainey, Sarah White and her partner Tell Bailey, Nicholas Randall and his wife Miriam, and Vanessa Randall; and her great-granddaughter, Emmeline McIntire; and loving members of her extended family and treasured friends.

A memorial service is being planned for June 11, at the First Congregational Church UCC in South Portland and reception details to follow. Arrangements are entrusted to Hobbs Funeral Home, South Portland. To offer online condolences and shared memories, please visit http://www.hobbsfuneralhome.com

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to:

Community Crisis Ministries

First Congregational Church UCC

301 Cottage Rd.

South Portland, ME 04106

or

Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad

413 Presumpscot Street

Portland, ME 04103

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