Obituary

Blanche Staples

Blanche Hutchins Staples

OGUNQUIT - Blanche Hutchins Staples, 92, a native of Perkins Cove, died Saturday, May 12, 2007, in York Hospital.

She was born Nov. 4, 1914, in Ogunquit, daughter of Warren and Maude (Adams) Hutchins. She graduated from Wells High School in 1931, Gorham Normal School in 1936 and the University of Southern Maine in 1952. She graduated from Boston University with a Master's degree in Education in 1954 and Boston University CAGS in 1969.

She had taught in the Wells-Ogunquit Elementary School from 1936 to 1943; Portland, Ore., Public Schools, and Tangier, Morocco, on a U.S. Government Grant from 1956 to 1958. She had also taught in the Hyde Park, N.Y., Public School System before retiring in 1975.

During World War II she spent two years in the Red Cross, attached to the 5th Air Force as a canteen worker. She had been a volunteer docent since 1989 at the Ogunquit Museum of American Art, where her knowledge of and affection for the community enriched the visitors' experience. She served on the Winn House committee for the nine years it existed and was instrumental in the establishment of Winn House as a museum of the fishing community, and the Art Colony.

As an adult, she traveled extensively, visiting 60 countries. Most of her travel was done on cargo ships. Her last trip was a 110-day cruise on the Queen Elizabeth II around the world in 2005.

Her husband, Robert L. Staples, died in 1997.

She leaves a daughter, Marena W. Bragg and her husband, Robert Bragg, of Cape Neddick; two granddaughters, Tricia Bragg of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., and Kimberly Woods and her husband, Bryan Woods, of Hyde Park, N.Y.; two great-grandchildren, Liam Patrick and Ciara Marena Woods, and a daughter-in-law, Sharon Brewer, of Oregon.

A son, Peter J. Brewer, predeceased her.

The memorial service for Mrs. Staples will be held at 1 p.m. on Saturday, June 2, in the First Parish Congregational Church, 180 York St., York. Burial will be in Ocean View Cemetery, Wells.

Lucas & Eaton Funeral Home, 91 Long Sands Road, York, is directing arrangements.

Memorial contributions may be made to Friends of the Winn House, P.O. Box 723, Ogunquit, ME 03907 or to Ogunquit Museum of Art, 543 Shore Road, Ogunquit, ME 03907.  Visit http://www.lucaseatonfuneralhome.com/.