Constance “Connie” Lincoln Sweetser of Cumberland died Friday, July 12. Contributed / Sweetser family

Constance “Connie” Lincoln Sweetser, the vibrant matriarch of Sweetser’s Apple Barrel and Orchards in Cumberland, was “a very strong woman who had a love for her family and the community,” her daughter said this week.

Sweetser, who died July 12, spent 70 of her 93 years at the family farm, and she loomed large in the community.

“She was always upbeat, always happy, always willing to help somebody else out. She loved to hear everybody else’s stories, and she was a great listener,” Cathy Sweetser said.  “She loved being involved in everything that was Cumberland.”

Greg Sweetser, left, Eben Sweetser, Connie Sweetser and Dick Sweetser at an awards ceremony in 2009 where they received the Maddy Corson Small Business Award from the Institute for Family Owned Businesses. File photo / Portland Press Herald

Connie Lincoln met Richard “Dick” Sweetser while attending the University of Maine. They married in 1951 and soon after moved to his family’s Blanchard Road farm, which dates back to the early 19th century. In the 1950s, the couple built the Apple Barrel Market, which sells apples and apple products during the season. 

Sweetser said her mother had a great group of friends who would go on ski trips together, and she was part of the ski patrol and a ski instructor at Mt. Abram Ski Area during her younger years. She gave swim lessons for years at the Greely Pool.

She relished sharing the joy of outdoor activities with others, Sweetser said, and she also treasured teaching people all about apples.

“At the apple orchard, she loved to have kindergarten groups or anybody come for a tour of the orchard. She would be just beaming, ‘Let me take you through the orchard. Let me show you around. Let me show you how an apple is grown,’” she said.

Neighbor Trisha Stickney first met Connie Sweetser when she began working part time at the Apple Barrel in 2015. Stickney would take her lunch breaks with Connie on the Sweetsers’ porch, and Connie, still active with the market, would joke that she was supposed to be retired. The two became good friends.

“She was always on her porch during apple season. And all the customers knew her because she was a prominent member of our town for 70 years. Everyone that came in would ask ‘Is Connie still around?’ And (I would say), ‘She’s still on her porch!’” Stickney said.

Connie Sweetser loved apple season because it meant that there would be visitors coming to say hello.

On Facebook, warm notes and memories poured in after the family shared the news of her death.

“She’s part of my very earliest memories,” wrote Michelle O’Donnell Josephson. “You know you grew up in Cumberland if Mrs. Sweetser taught you to swim!”

Emily Gray wrote, “Connie was one of my favorite parts of this town … I loved her wicked sense of humor. She was a true gem of a human being.”

Dick Sweetser died in 2016. The couple’s sons, Greg and Rick, live on the Sweetser’s family property. Greg Sweetser owns and operates the orchard.

The family will hold visiting hours from 3 to 6 p.m. Friday, July 26, at the Congregational Church in Cumberland. A memorial service and celebration of life will be held at 2 p.m. July 27 at Sweetser’s Apple Barrel.