Edna L. Wentworth
KENNEBUNK – Edna L. Wentworth, 93 died peacefully the morning of Thursday, April 14 at Kennebunk Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. She spent her final days surrounded by her family.
Edna was born June 14th, 1922 in Old Town, Maine, the daughter of John and Eugenie LaPointe. She grew up in Rumford and after being moved ahead two grades, graduated from Stevens High School at age 15, the youngest ever to do so. When she moved to Kennebunk in 1944, Edna worked for New England Tel & Tel and became one of the youngest Chief Operators in their history. Soon after moving to Kennebunk she met a handsome young sailor named Bailey Wentworth in front of Bowdoin’s Drug Store. Such began a romance, love affair and marriage that endured until Bailey’s death in 1994. As a young mother of five children, Edna always worked full-time to help support the family, most memorably as the secretary at Park Street Elementary School, where she functioned as deputy principal and stand-in mom for
thousands of schoolchildren over the years. In 1972 she was elected Town Clerk of Kennebunk where she became a fixture in the town office, modernizing the position of clerk and serving multiple terms as President of the Maine Town and City Clerks Association.
Along with her husband, Edna was predeceased by her daughter-in-law, Patricia Wentworth. Surviving Edna are her five children; daughter Donna Ballou and her husband Nelson, son Thomas Wentworth and his wife Catherine Heffernan, son Jeffrey Wentworth, daughter Janet Wentworth and her husband Kevin Thyng and son Michael and his wife Kathleen Brown, as well as the ten grandchildren she was so proud of: Melissa, Tyler, Nathan, Robie, Triann, Nola, Chandi, Marleah, Abigail and Samuel.
For many years Edna was one of Southern Maine’s most feared and formidable bridge players, competing in tournaments and serving as President of the Kennebunk Duplicate Bridge Club for several years, becoming a National Master and a certified bridge director for the United States Duplicate Bridge Association. Extremely well-read and a lover of language, Edna read over a hundred books a year in her retirement and completed thousands of crossword puzzles in her life. A notorious baker, her family and close friends will miss her pies, cookies and blueberry muffins. Generous with her time, Edna was a volunteer for many years at Kennebunk Senior Center and SMMC.
In the last years of her life, Edna was cared for lovingly by her daughter Janet and her husband Kevin whom she lived with on Webber Hill Road since 2011. In 2013, son Jeff moved back to Kennebunk to help with her care as well.
The family of Edna Wentworth would like to thank the staff and administration of both the Kennebunk Center for Health & Rehabilitation and the Portland Center for Assisted Living as well as Hospice of Southern Maine for all of their kindness and care.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made in Edna’s honor to the Kennebunk Free Library at www.kennebunklibrary.org or The Hospice of Southern Maine at www.hospiceofsouthernmaine.org.
A Celebration of Life will be held~Saturday, April 30th at 11AM~at the First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church of Kennebunk, located at 114 Main St Kennebunk, Maine.
Online condolences may be expressed below.
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