GRAY - Edna Hawkes Whitney, 97, went to be with her beloved husband of 63 years, Orin, on May 16, 2019. A longtime resident of Gray, Maine, she was born in Portland on Nov. 1, 1921, to Waldo E. Hawkes and Hattie Reed. Mrs. Whitney graduated from Falmouth High School in 1940, and she married the love of her life in January of 1941, together they moved to Gray where they had a farming business and raised three children. Edna was a lifetime member of The Gray Grange, Rebecca Lodge, and a member of The First Universalist Church of Yarmouth, Maine. She was a devoted community member, working with numerous organizations - church fairs, suppers, The Yarmouth Clam Festival, and Old Home Day. In the Rebecca's she held the office of Noble Grand and the esteemed office of Marshall to the President of the Rebecca Assembly of Maine, and after retirement, she traveled to visit other lodges throughout the state of Maine with her Rebecca sisters. She was a caring wife and loving mother who worked on the farm alongside her husband, Orin, putting in long hours. In her spare time, she enjoyed crocheting names, and having yard sales. She and Orin traveled to Europe and cruised the great rivers of the U.S. They were also avid square dancers, which opened up more travel and being in the Guinness Book of World Records for participating in the largest number of square dancers in one place. Edna was an entrepreneur, starting a business in the '50s making and selling chicken pies out of her kitchen is South Gray.
She loved spending time with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, to them she was fondly known as Nana. She will be missed. She was predeceased by her husband, Orin; brothers: Lenville, Clinton, Bradford, Henry, Bryon, James and Norman Hawkes; sisters: Ina Harmon, Nancy Gayton, Ethel Knowles, and Aubine Quirion; and a great-granddaughter Cassondra Sullivan. She is survived by her sister-in-law, Elizabeth Megquire; sons, Donald Whitney and wife, Beverly, of Gray, Maine, Fred Whitney of Gray, Maine; and a daughter, Aubine Dingwell of Orlando, Fla.; grandsons, Dean Whitney, Darin Whitney and wife, Sonja; granddaughters, Leighann Sullivan and significant other, Tim O'Wril, Christine Cronin and fiancée, Fred Leissa, Tammy Brown and husband, Frank, Marjorie Heald and husband Kris; 12 great-grandchildren; three great-great-grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews.
A service will be scheduled later this summer.
Thank you to Vitas Health Care of Central Florida, Sutton Homes and their caring staff, and Dr Puri.
Memorial donation may be made to the
Gray Historical Society
P.O. Box 544
Gray, Maine 04039 or
The First Universalist Church of Yarmouth
97 Maine Street
Yarmouth, Maine 04096