SOUTH PORTLAND – Pat Powers passed away on Monday, May 20, 2024, in Maine Medical Center at the age of 101. She was born on Feb. 6, 1923, in Rockford, Illinois, daughter of Colonel Frank Thornton Addington and Jean McLean Addington. After marrying Don Powers in 1947, she lived in Augusta until 1957 when she moved to Portland and, then in 1959, South Portland. She lived in her home there 65 years until her death. Pat was lovingly referred to as “Gigi” by her family and many friends.

She attended seven grammar schools. From age 8 to 11, her army father was stationed at El Morro, San Juan, Puerto Rico. She loved telling how she and her sister met President Roosevelt while living there when he drove up and asked Pat if she wanted a photo opportunity. After returning to the states, she attended part of 8th grade in Rockford before moving to Augusta, Maine where she graduated from Cony High School in 1940. Pat was active in field hockey, basketball, and tennis at Cony.

Pat attended Peace Junior College in North Carolina and was class president her freshman year. Peace was so strict that Pat said the students could have a dance with a band but weren’t allowed to dance! She transferred to Duke University where she was selected for the North Carolina All-State college field hockey team. When World War II broke out, she transferred to the Katharine Gibbs school in Boston.

In Augusta, Pat met her lifelong partner of 71 years, Don Powers. Pat and Don started going together as Cony juniors, just 15 years old. They met when she saw him sitting on his apartment steps with his brother, Neal. A friend set up their first date. Don and Pat, and friends, were all going to the movies in Winthrop. When they went to pick up the friends, they couldn’t go (obviously a put-up job) and Don and Pat decided to go anyway. Pat insisted on buying her own ticket! That summer, Don went to see Pat at summer camp, all dressed up in his Palm Beach fancy suit! They broke up for a couple of months, but when school started, the first away football game was at Rumford. After the game everybody went to a restaurant. When Pat saw Don alone putting money in the jukebox, she went to him and asked if he’d like to get back together. Later, under the apple tree across from her house at 95 Sewall St. in Augusta, Don kissed Pat for the first time on Armistice Day, Nov. 11, 1939. Pat said she was almost “sweet 16 and never been kissed”! 

Don and Pat dated nine years and, after WWII, married in June, 1947. After living a few years in Augusta where Don worked for WRDO radio, they transferred to the Portland area in 1957. Don worked for WCSH-TV and WLBZ-TV, and they built a home in South Portland in 1959. Pat was a homemaker and took great care of their three children. She volunteered at Maine Medical Center for over 54 years and was noted to be the longest serving volunteer at the hospital.

Pat and Don enjoyed over 30 years at their camp home on Thompson Lake in Oxford. They traveled to Europe, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong and around the United States. In their later years they spent many winters at Marco Island, Florida or Arizona, usually with Don’s brother Neal and wife Jean. They loved playing golf together at the Portland Country Club and Willowdale.

Pat was famous in the family for her comment to a taxi driver in Boston as she, Don and their three kids headed to Fenway Park in the ’60s. She exclaimed upon entering the cab that we came “all the way from Maine!” leading to instant embarrassment for all. There are far too many other comments to include here but suffice to say that Gigi was known for saying what was on her mind!

Their marriage lasted 62 years until Don passed on Aug. 15, 2009. Pat made the best of the second chapter of her life. She truly enjoyed meeting and talking to people, often friends of her children as many of her own age friends had long passed away. She was a great “people person”, always inquisitive, talking and listening with interest and would never complain. When asked if she ever got lonely, Pat said “I just don’t let it bother me.” She drove until age 100, still enjoyed going to Thompson Lake, reading, solving jigsaw and word puzzles, playing a dice game called YAM with her family and any willing visitors, and playing with her great grandchildren, including attending soccer and baseball games when the weather cooperated. She enjoyed being out in her yard and gardening. Pat played bridge most of her life. Two weeks before her passing, she came in second at her local bridge game. She always said her life has been full and that she’d seen a lot in 101 years, including wars, space exploration, computers and the internet (all technology amazed her), and advances in medicine. She would want to thank all who enriched her life with their friendship and care.

Pat was predeceased by her husband Don; sister Sally Alne, brother-in-law David Alne and brother-in-law Neal Powers. Pat is survived by son Keith (Barbara) of Cape Elizabeth, daughter Sally (Kyrn Bulger) of Falmouth, and son, John (Kim) of Poland, Maine; granddaughter Lynn Harder (Jeff) of Falmouth, grandson Christopher (longtime partner Nathalie Bishop) of Amesbury, Massachusetts; granddaughter Christine Googins (Kevin) of North Yarmouth; step-granddaughter Mary Joyce and step-grandson Jack Joyce; sister-in-law Jean Powers of Waterville; and great grandchildren Reese, Ryan, Jordan, and Delaney. The family thanks her neighbors, especially Megan and Steve Porter, for helping her and looking out for her in her later years.

Interment will take place at the chapel on Friday, June 21, at 9 a.m., at the Veterans Cemetery, 163 Mt. Vernon Road, Augusta, Maine where Pat will join her husband Don. Family and friends are invited.

Copy the Story Link

« Previous

Obituary: Robert James Towne

Next »

Obituary: Olcott "Tubba" Toothaker