Obituary of Marcelle Kilpatrick

A life well traveled and well lived, Marcelle Kilpatrick of Boothbay Harbor sailed in her 91st year for a new port on March 31, 2016. She was born on Bastille Day July 14, 1925 in the mill town of Bristol, Connecticut, the youngest of six children of Edmond LeMaire and Elauza Lauzon of St. Bonaventure, Quebec, Canada. Coming of age during the depression, in an immigrant household where English was not the household language, she was the only sibling to have the luxury of graduating from high school and later at the age of 40 being able to attend college. She had a talent for singing and language, both written and spoken, that brought her joy and stood her well over the years. She married her high school sweetheart, Robert J. Kilpatrick, who would become a career officer in the U.S. Air Force. He had the competitive drive and fearlessness needed to become what today is know as a “top gun" pilot, while she had a tenacious view in regard to women’s rights, democratic ideals, and her own 'can do' - and as her daughter would say, “what to do” attitude. Together they proceeded to travel the country and the world, at times lighting a fire with thoughtful and sometimes unconventional thinking in regards to love and life. The early years of marriage were spent deployed in Germany and Holland, traveling much of Europe with their first child, Laura. Marcelle returned permanently stateside for the birth of the family’s second child, Katherine. Her husband, by then a Squadron Commander, continued for periods to be deployed overseas in Europe and Iran, while Marcelle moved from base to base, raising the two children and fulfilling the duties of a military officer’s spouse. Supporting the Squadron spouses and families and organizing the social schedule that sustains any military team was an honor she said, even when it might on the surface appear to conflict with her ambition to be independent, and not be known simply as “the wife.” Often the family was stationed in the southern states of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, including Montgomery, Alabama during the height of the Civil Rights marches. She was always a leader and a spark plug in the communities where she resided; a Girl Scout leader, Democratic Party secretary, community chorus, theater arts, and the list goes on. In the early 1970s, Marcelle decided it was time to get the college education she had dreamed of and attended the University of Southern Connecticut, obtaining a teaching degree in both English and foreign language. She said it was a unique experience attending college in New Haven, at the age of 40 as the wife of a senior military officer, during the era of campus wide Vietnam protests. She always believed it was never to late to learn, try something new, or go back to school no matter the age. They retired from military service in the mid-1970s and her husband began lobster fishing while she started her second career as a teacher in Madison, Connecticut, and then for a few years tried her hand in international business, working as a translator and executive assistant for the CEO of the International Silver Corporation. In 1976 she moved to Boothbay Harbor where she continued to teach French, Spanish, and English at public schools in the Midcoast area from Boothbay to Rockland, and West to Belgrade, often lying about her age well into her 70s so that the “old lady” would be offered the job. To supplement her teaching salary, during the summer months she would put the skills she learned as a military wife to work as the social director at the Spruce Point Inn. When she retired from teaching full time, the urge to travel the world returned. She would spend several months each winter living in Malaga, Spain and return to Boothbay Harbor each spring to teach evening adult education classes in conversational Spanish and French. On occasion she would work “the booth” at Cap’n Fish's sightseeing tours during the summer, she said to get out of the house and meet new people. She is survived by her daughter Katherine (Kay) Kilpatrick and her husband Ken Voss of Miami, Florida, and two grandchildren, Nick and Kara Voss of Tampa, Florida, and San Diego, California, respectively. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Boothbay Green ElderCare Network of Lincoln County, P.O. Box 652, Damariscotta, ME 04543, where she was lovingly cared for in her last years, or a charity of your choice To honor her mother, Katherine will host an open house at the family home, 261 Ocean Point Road in Boothbay Harbor on Sunday, April 3 from noon to 5 p.m. for anyone wishing to pay their respects and give a toast to a life well lived. Marcelle’s ashes will be scattered later in the summer near Outer Heron Island.