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| Name: |
Ruby Marguerite Condon
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| Date: |
October 9th, 1924 - July 4th, 2009
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| Obituary: |
Ruby Marguerite Condon, 84, late of Sunnybrook Village, Brunswick, and widow of Clinton Condon of Freeport, died July 4, of cancer. Ruby was a brave person right to the end, never seeking medications, always delighting in the arrival of visitors, and always trusting in the Lord's decisions for her.
The fifth child of six born to Arthur W. Turner and Hazel Griffin Turner at Frankfort, Maine, and later growing up at Brunswick and Bowdoinham, Maine, she was married early to Maurice Ware of Bowdoinham. Thereafter she had two very happy marriages, being widowed both times, the first being of Ralph Spier of Durham, Maine. Her 34 year marriage to Clinton Condon ended in his death in 2005. She and Clinton enjoyed gatherings both with her relatives and with his family from his previous marriage. They also had fun doing a paper route to deliver the Times Record.
Ruby lived modestly for all eight decades and was not one to boast of her roots that were proved through Maine, NH and Massachusetts back to when the first colonist ship "Mayflower" arrived from England/Holland at Plymouth Rock, Cape Cod, with her direct Pilgrim ancestors Stephen Hopkins and Thomas Rogers aboard, both signers of the historic Mayflower Compact on Nov. 11, 1620.
She dropped out of high school early, and as a teen helped care for her two young Bean nieces in Freeport, and she also did some factory work at Freeport Shoe. Before being married she frosted cupcakes in a bakery in Portland. Before her second marriage she worked several years as cook for her older sister, Marion Morang, who owned the Mere Point Nursing Home in Brunswick. She was highly regarded by her family as a fine cook and meticulous housekeeper, although she always claimed she didn't like to cook and was written up in the news for a roast turkey that "got away" in an unexplained oven explosion.
Ruby's personality is best remembered as having a quiet disposition with a quirky sense of humor that made people laugh. She and her siblings, when getting together, fell into storytelling and told nonsensical tales as if they were true, to the complete delight of her nieces and nephews.
Growing up with a mother who played hymns on the piano, she often sang at home and took the alto part in harmony with her younger sister, Kay. She also learned folk and country lyrics by memory and could repeat them verbatim decades later. A favorite went this way:
I hear dem angels callin' loud: Keep in the middle of de road;
Dey's standin' dere in a great big crowd:
Keep in de middle of de road.
Deys standin' round that big white gate,
Better travel along 'fore it gets too late,
Fo' it ain't no use fo' to sit down an' wait,
Keep in de middle of de road.
Chilluns, keep in de middle of de road,
Chilluns, keep in de middle of de road:
Don't you look to de left; don't you look to de right
Jus' keep in the middle of de,
Middle of de, middle of de,
Keep in the middle of de road.
Ruby, herself, played piano by ear and taught herself to play guitar by ear, and
she would sing guitar songs like Your Cheatin' Heart. She had a youthful approach to life and claimed she never wanted to live beyond age 60. When that came and went, she remained youthful and buoyant. Always a slender person, she loved to make candy and eat chocolate. At Flat Rock swimming hole in Frankfort, an enterprise her father Arthur Turner started after his sawmill business failed during the Great Depression, she would sneak chocolate bars from his summer candy stand. Later, in Freeport, she would walk down to the Maine Idle Cabins after she had saved up 5 pennies to buy a roll of Necco Wafers. Her sister Kay, in writing some autobiographical family recollections, reports Ruby found root beer extract at the dump in Freeport and made root beer popsicles. Another story was when she found a bag of oranges on the side of the road, partially frozen, and counted it a special treat during a bad time when her Papa was first ill with diabetes and things were pretty bleak
for the family of 8. She is remembered for digging dandelion greens from the front lawn in Bowdoinham and cooking them for the family as a special spring treat. She was always looking for food treats, hunting Mayberries in the spring and for trees with spruce gum.
When she was baby-sitting for her older sister June, who married into the Bean family in Freeport, she would play fun games and collect horse chestnuts on Elm Street to make secret smoking pipes. When she collaborated with her niece Linda on a baking a failed cake, she playfully hid the error by flushing it away as a shared "secret."
Once settled in her own home, Ruby loved to garden and grow flowers. At times she had big vegetable gardens and did summer and fall home canning. Ruby had dogs and pet cats that she loved and she would sign greeting cards to her relatives with paw drawings. A favorite was her dog Tippy White Boots.
Her sister June was at her bedside in her final hour. They occupied adjoining apartments.
Ruby leaves the following surviving relatives:
Her older sister Hazel June Turner (Bean) Dyer of Brunswick and formerly Freeport, Yarmouth, Camden and Cumberland; her older brother Robert Nelson Turner of The Inn at Village Square, Gorham, and formerly of Bowdoinham, widower of Phyllis Brawn Turner; her younger sister Kathleen Turner Greczkowski of Santa Rosa, California, and husband, Ed.
In the next generation she leaves nieces who are daughters of her deceased brother and sister-in-law, Arthur W. Turner and Mary (Sweatt) Turner, being Deborah Turner Stubbs of Brunswick, Maine, and Jennifer Angelini and her husband, Bill, of Stevensville, Maryland; also the daughter of her deceased sister Marion Turner (Morang) Simpson, Donna Morang Andrews and husband Dwight Andrews of Las Vegas; nieces Linda Lorraine Bean of Port Clyde, Maine, and Diana Bertha Bean of Scarborough, Maine; nephew Robert N. Turner, Jr. of East Vassalboro, and his fiancee, Pamela Colvin; nieces Paula Turner Verdugo of Grand Rapids, Michigan, and husband Michael; and Brenda Turner Raymond of South Portland and husband Glenn; niece Erin Benford of San Jose, California, and husband John; and niece Karen Emrey of Santa Rosa, California.
Her surviving grand nephews and grand nieces are Michael Andrews of Las Vegas and wife Dawn, and children Crystle and Jeremey; Katherine Andrews Claflin and husband James of Henderson, Nevada, and son Christopher Taney of Las Vegas; Melissa Tourtelotte and Danny Tourtelotte of Michigan and Maine; Alex and Ian Raymond of South Portland; Lauren DelRosso and husband Tony and daughter Isabella of Mons, Belgium; Kristin Mike and husband Matthew of Phoenix, Arizona, and daughter Grace; Meghan Turner of Kennebunk and fiance Richard Schrader; Sean Turner of Portland, Maine; Joel Benford and Jeffrey Benford of San Jose, CA and Joshua Emrey of California; Jason Clark of Montecito, California, and son Jesse Clark Gertz of South Portland, Maine; Nathan Clark and wife Katherine Burnham of Cumberland Foreside and Camden, Maine, and children Andrew Howland Clark and Eliza Grace Clark; Kevin Clark and wife Lynn of Freeport and Eustis, Maine, and sons Nikolas Van Skoyk and Lachlan MacBean Clark.
By marriage Ruby leaves her sister-in-law, Georgia Condon Small of Freeport, and step children, Sara Condon Weed of Yarmouth, Maine, and husband Clayton; Beverly Condon Tompson of Freeport, Maine, and husband Cy; William Wesley Condon of Kingston, Georgia, and Martinsville, Maine, and Debbie Grace; David Elliott Condon of Hauchuka City, Arizona; and Sandra Condon Hamlin of Gorham, Maine; plus 20 grandchildren, 37 great grandchildren and 12 great great grandchildren.
A visiting hour immediately before the 10:00 AM funeral Friday morning will begin at 9:00 AM at Brackett Funeral Home, 29 Federal Street, Brunswick, with interment to follow at the Turner plot at Groustown Cemetery, Church Road, Brunswick. Correspondence may be directed to Estate of Ruby Condon, PO Box 860, Camden, ME 04843.
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| Visitations: |
9:00AM to 10:00AM on Friday, July 10th, 2009 at Brackett Funeral home (map/driving directions)
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| Services: |
10:00AM at Brackett Funeral Home on Friday, July 10th, 2009 (map/driving directions)
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| Cemetery: |
Growstown Cemetery
Church Road
Brunswick, ME 04011 (map/driving directions)
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