Maryjane (Swett) Choate

CASCO – Maryjane (Swett) Choate died of natural causes, peacefully and surrounded by loved ones, on August 19, 2021, at Country Village Assisted Living in Casco. She was 98 years old.

Born on Nov. 19, 1922, in Portland, to Walter and Cynthia (Vickery) Swett and raised in Falmouth Foreside, Maryjane’s fondest memories of childhood included getting into mischief with her beloved brothers, Walt and Paul, and their neighborhood gang of friends; playing with her younger sister, Joanne; driving the busses and working on the boats of Falmouth Transportation Company, the ferry and bus service founded by her father and grandfather; competing on the girls’ swim and basketball teams at Falmouth High School; and earning the Golden Eaglet, the Girl Scouts’ highest honor.

Maryjane graduated from Westbrook Junior College and, after training in Fort Meyers, Fla., served her country as part of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Women’s Reserve during World War II. After the war, she and husband Willard Choate — who she married in 1943 and divorced in 1977 — moved to Arizona, back to Maine, and then to Royersford, Pa., where they bought a dairy farm that was destroyed by Hurricane Hazel in 1954. In the wake of that financial disaster, they moved their expanding brood to California to be near her brother, Paul. It was there, in the foothills of Springville, Calif., that Maryjane created the bustling family life she had always wanted: full of friends, family and seven children who felt loved and cared for.

Maryjane worked as a teacher’s aide at Springville Elementary School and a clerk at Montgomery Ward’s before serving as a statement research clerk at Bank of the Sierra in Porterville, Calif., where she lived for nearly 20 years. Shortly before she retired, Maryjane was honored for being “the Cal Ripken of the local banking scene” for serving 15 years — 3,550 days — without missing a single day of work. Returning to Maine to live after her retirement was a dream come true for Maryjane, allowing her to be close to extended family and childhood friends and memories.

She relished the simple joys: a phone call from a loved one, good conversation, her daily newspaper, watching the neighbors’ boys grow up, her television shows, birds at the feeder, a good nut-filled chocolate, a glass of port, following the comings and goings of Casco from her window, and — most of all — her children and their families. Maryjane will be remembered for her positive outlook, infectious laugh, resilience, no-nonsense approach to life and, most of all, as a great mother, grandmother and friend.

Maryjane’s family is grateful for the care she received at Country Village Assisted Living during the four years she lived there.

Maryjane is survived by her daughters Mary Hibdon of Lake Isabella, Calif., Jayne Choate of Casco, Deborah Wulff and husband Charles of Bakersfield, Calif., Joan Feleay and husband Steve of Springville, Calif.; 14 grandchildren; 30 great-grandchildren; and three great-great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by daughter, Cynthia Davis and sons Bill Choate and Steve Choate.

Cremation arrangements are in the care of the Hall Funeral Home in Casco, where online condolences may be shared with her family on her Tribute Wall at http://www.hallfuneralhome.net. A committal service is planned for the summer of 2022 at Pine Grove Cemetery in Falmouth.