Mary Elizabeth Huntress was born at South Portland, Cumberland Co, Maine, on 31 July 1906.
2,1,3 She was the daughter of
Frederick William Huntress and
Caroline Wainwright Lowell.
1 Mary Elizabeth Huntress (of S. Portland, ME) married at South Portland, Cumberland Co, Maine,, on 2 September 1929, at age 23,
Gerald B'Rells, age 29, of Hoboken, NJ.
1,4,3 Mary Elizabeth Huntress died at Columbia, Richland Co, South Carolina, on 28 May 1996 of congestive heart failure several months after a major operation at age 89 years, 9 months and 28 days.
2,3 She was buried at Elmwood Cemetery, Columbia, Richland Co, South Carolina, on 30 June 1996.
3 "Mary, always called Beth, grew up in South Portland, Maine. She graduated from Gorham Normal School in Gorham, Maine and taught in elementary school.
...
"[She] met her husband-to-be while she was visiting her aunt Lillian (Amy Louise Lowell, born 30 July 1887) who taught Latin in the East Orange, New Jersey school system. The actual introduction was probably arranged by Emma Curtis, a good friend of Lillian, during Beth's visit of 14 - 30 December, 1928.
"Much later, Beth complained about almost freezing to death while riding back to South Portland with Gerald in the rumble seat of a car! It seems, therefore, that Gerald was introduced to Beth's parents (and other relatives) sometime during winter of 1928-29. Despite his foreign origins, Gerald was (apparently!) found acceptable to the Beth's parents, and they were married several months later.
"Per the 1930 census, the newlyweds lived at 674 Liberty Ave, Jersey City, New Jersey for a short time after they were married. Beth was very bored, and decided to take a job. She may have worked in a department store, although it seems that a teaching position would have been more reasonable. In the early 1930's, however, Gerald was offered a job with the New England Telephone Company in Portland, Maine. With some misgivings, perhaps, the couple moved to South Portland and lived only a short distance from Beth's parents.
"In the early 1940's the Telephone Company transferred Gerald to their office in Bangor, Maine. The couple moved to Bangor and rented a house on Linden Street. Several years later(?) they moved next door to a rented house on Fountain Street. Several years(?) after that move, the owner of the house decided to sell out. The family did not want to buy such an old house, so they purchased a house in Brewer, a city just across the river from Bangor.
Unfortunately, that house was poorly constructed and did not seem worth fixing! The family decided to sell the Brewer house and build a new house in Orono, a small town about 8 miles north of Bangor. The construction of this new house (which was largely done by Gerald himself!) was taking some time, and they received a purchase offer for the Brewer house before the home in Orono was complete! They decided to accept the offer, however, and live that summer (1951 or 1952) in a rented "cottage" on Pushaw Lake, located about 3 miles from Orono. According to Beth, it rained most of that summer and the "cottage" had a metal roof that made a terrible racket! The noise, combined with the primitive facilities at the "cottage", made Beth very depressed.
(The children, on the other hand, had a wonderful time!) Fortunately, the house in Orono was soon finished (enough to live in, anyway), and the family moved there sometime in 1952.
"Beth and Gerald moved to Columbia, S.C. after Gerald retired from the Telephone Company in the mid 1960s. They were both glad to get away from the Maine winters, although Beth (in particular) missed her friends. It is sad that Gerald only lived a couple of years after they moved, and that he was in poor health for the last year or so."
3 She resided at 269 Burbank St, Columbia, Richland Co, South Carolina, on 13 September 1977.
5 She resided at Columbia, Richland Co, South Carolina, in 1996.
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