Constance Elaine Brayley
CONSTANCE ELAINE BRAYLEY (CUSHING)
Constance Elaine Brayley (Cushing) went home to be with her Lord
on Sunday, February 18, at the Gosnell House surrounded by her
loving family. Connie was born in Portland on March 21, 1927,
the eighth of nine children of Benjamin H. and Florence
(Woodman) Cushing. After graduating from Portland High School,
she attended the University of Maine in Orono.
Living winters in Portland where her father worked for the city,
Connie and her four sisters and four brothers always waited
excitedly for summer to arrive as they could move to Long
Island, Maine. Each summer season they would rent the island’s
one room school house (now a gift shop) and create ‘bedrooms’ by
hanging blankets from the rafters.
At 14 years old, Connie met the ‘love of her life’, Warren
‘Dout’ while hanging out at the island variety store. As she
would later tell her children, she knew immediately that this
was the man she wanted to marry. And she did just that on June
1, 1947. They were married at the Chestnut Street Methodist
Church which is now the Grace Restaurant. 65 years later Connie
and Warren celebrated a anniversary meal in the very same
sanctuary.
In the early 1970’s they built a cottage on the island and
eventually built a year-round home there. When discussions began
concerning the island seceding from the city of Portland to form
its own town, Connie and Dout took an active role in the effort
which was ultimately successful in 1993.
When the town undertook a campaign to raise funds for a new
school addition which would include a new library, Connie helped
in the fundraising effort and would subsequently serve as
Library Director for a number of years. She loved her duties at
the library as she had the opportunity to chit-chat with island
residents as well as summer visitors.
Connie was a bit of a dilettante artistically. Over the years,
she painted (oil & watercolors), knitted, sewed clothing, caned
chairs, braided rugs, played tennis, kept a daily journal, began
violin lessons at the age of 80, and through it all was a
voracious reader.
Although Connie’s interests were many and varied, her life took
on a new meaning when she became a Christian at age 27. Since
that time, her focus has never waivered – that of sharing the
joy of her faith with those around her. Whether on the ferry to
and from the island, at home, at the doctor’s office, in the
hospital room, wherever she was it would not take long for the
conversation to turn to spiritual matters and her love for her
Lord. Her early Christian years were spent learning about the
Christian life and the Bible at First Baptist Church in
Portland. In 1975, she and Dout were among the founding members
of Christchurch on Congress Street in Portland where she served
as Sunday School teacher, member of the Church Council as well
as in other capacities. When Connie and Dout moved to the island
full time she was instrumental in founding the Upper Room
Fellowship, a small non-denominational church group where she
shared a spiritual lesson each Sunday morning.
Connie will be greatly missed by her devoted husband, Warren;
two daughters, Denise Johnson and husband Craig of Westbrook,
Betsy Brayley of Hope, Maine and Vero Beach Florida; her sister
Gwendolyn Dobbs of Virginia Beach, VA; her brother and wife,
Donald and Camilla Cushing of Haverhill, MA; beloved
grandchildren Christopher Johnson, Heather D’Auteuil, Sadye
Clark, Sam Johnson, Nicole Souter McAllister, Erika Souter,
Renee Souter Cross and Dylan Souter; as well as, eight
great-grandchildren and many nieces and nephews.
A service to celebrate her life will be held Saturday, March 3
at 2 p.m. at the South Portland Church of the Nazarene, 525
Highland Ave. South Portland, Maine. An informal reception to
follow. The family would like to thank the staff at the Gosnell
Hospice House for their kind and exceptional care they gave to
Connie. Funeral arrangements are made by Coastal Cremation
Services. In lieu of flowers donations may be made to the Long
Island Community Library, 7 Gorham Road, Long Island, ME 04050
Online condolences may be expressed below.
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