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Orrin Leighton Worcester
Sept. 15, 1912 - Jan. 31, 2004



Place of Birth:  Columbia, Maine, Washington
Times of Marriage:
1
Last name Of 1st. Spouse:
Grant
Occupation:
  Farmer
Cause of Death:
 Old Age
Place of Death:
  Sunrise Care Facility
City of Death:
  Jonesport, Maine, US
Burial Place:
  Columbia Cemetery, Columbia, Maine, US
Citizen E Relatives:
 Grant Glenis Muriel

Created By: Ronie Leighton Strout
Addison, Maine, USA
Ronie_L@yahoo
Relation:
 daughter
Date:
 Tue, 16 Mar 2004 08:55:10 -0800

 

Provider's Thoughts :
Dad went to be with mom January 31, 2004. He died at Jonesport where he was a patient at the Sunrise Care Facility.
Dad was born on September 15, 1912, the fifth child out of eight born to his parents Ralph and Ronie (Leighton) Worcester at his home that he lived in for 91 years in Columbia, Maine.
I was in on Friday morning and sat with him for over an hour holding his hand. He knew that I was there and spoke to me that it was time for him to go - that he was ready. I kissed him goodbye for the last time and wished he would go peacefully and be with my mother who has been gone for 12 years.
Dad was a very special person not because he was my father but because he cared about me and he loved me. He gave me his mother's name, for which I know was very special to him.
After growing up and moving out he always checked on me to make sure I was okay. He said don't tell your mother that I was here, it is just between the two of us. He would call me out of the blue, and say are you doing okay?
I always tried to get him to talk about growing up in Columbia in a big family and what he did for entertainment. He would talk some days and I would write the stories down and record them to listen to later.
He told me once that he walked to Leeman Grant's home across the river just to visit my mom when he was courting her. He said in those days the river froze up and you could skate from Arti's Bridge right down to Columbia Falls to the village. He said that one time he and his siblings were sliding down Arti's Hill to the river on wooden runner sleds and he ran into a pole and knocked himself out. For years after he would have dizzy spells once in awhile and didn't know why until a few years ago when he had been in the hospital after having a stroke. After some tests the doctors said he must of hit his head quite hard at one time as it showed up on the results. He supposed that was why he had those dizzy spells, pieces of blood clots or something he said would break off just enough to make him dizzy. He wondered at the time why he hadn't died when one of those clots let loose. He was just lucky he guessed.
He loved to play cribbage and 83 with us children. He'd say on a cold winter night "how about a game of cards kids?" We loved playing cards with him sitting around the kitchen table. He would eat apples during the games from the ones that he had put down cellar for the winter. As we watched him he would peel the apples in one continuous peel. This always amazed me as a child.
He also taught us to play cribbage and would beat us most every time.
He would talk about hunting, trapping, fishing and guiding hunters during the different hunting seasons. He always got his deer every season to put on the table. We grew up on wild meat and fresh salmon from the river. We didn't really know how hard it was as we were just children and knew that dad was looking out for us.
In late years dad would shoot a coyote out of his bedroom window and get them every time. He was an excellent hunter.
To make a living he would trap beaver, muskrats, bobcats, and otters in the winter and sell the pelts to fur buyers. As a child I would stand and watch him prepare and stretch the beaver hides, then nail them to the board in the evenings. I did not like the smell of that job but he didn't seem to mind it as he was providing for his family. It was the way in those days of making a living.
He would cut wood in the winter to sell and for the wood stoves we had to provide heat for our home. He said he had to have at least 12 cord of wood to get by in the winter months.
Dad told me that he was in charge of taking care of his mom who was sick, and after that he was in charge of taking care of his siblings. His mother asked him to make sure he took care of his brothers and sisters and he did. He then went on and brought up his own seven children. Later on when our mother was taken ill he took care of her till the day she died.
They never did have an empty house, as we all left home one by one; some of us would be back so they never were alone.
I came home with two small children and lived with them for five years. before moving out again. My children called him "daddy" and to this day he was "daddy" to the two older children. I remember one time we took Michelle and Matthew to get an ice cream in Cherryfield, some people that were there looked at me funny when Michelle ran up to him and called him "daddy". That is how they will always remember him as "daddy".
Dad was well known in town, he was the fire warden, constable and road commissioner for many years. He was well known for his gardens, and the surplus of food he always had in the fall to sell. People came from miles around to get some of his home grown vegetables. He would grow pumpkins for his grandkids with their names on them. Everyone far and wide knew they could get a big pumpkin for Halloween at Orrin Worcester's.
I remember the day when dad taught me to make biscuits one Christmas morning when my mother was ill. I could hardly stir the ingredients as I was probably about 10, not just a little batch but a very large batch. Those biscuits came out just fine he said. I do know that we always thought his sugar cookies were better than mom's was as he had just the right touch in rolling them out. He knew how to cook for he had too after his parents died.
Yes there are a lot of things I could say about him for he took care of everyone else and never complained all of his 91 years of being with us.
His 7 children, 17 grandchildren, 8 great grandchildren and 8 step great grandchildren will miss him. His parents, two infants, one grandchild and our mom - Glenis (Grant) Worcester, predeceased him. His 4 sisters, Doris, Hilda, Stella, and Elva and his 2 brothers, Ralph and Merrill also predeceased him. One brother Oswald Worcester survives him.
Yes he will be missed when the phone doesn't ring and him asking me "How you doing today, Ronie?"
I love you and I will miss you dad.

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