Portland Press Herald, Wednesday, February 9B NEW ENGLAND Mass. gay marriage debate creates havoc at Statehouse A constitutional convention begins today on 10 proposed amendments, including a ban on gay marriage. The Associated Press BOSTON Gay-rights activists, conservative leaders and media from around the globe converged on the worked feverishly to find middle Statehouse Tuesday, while legislators ground on the eve of a historic vote on a ban on gay marriage. Less than 24 hours before the constitutional convention was to begin, a bipartisan group of Senate leaders Marcia McCarthy Brown, 81 FALMOUTH Marcia McCarthy Brown, 81, of Falmouth, passed away Feb. 8, 2004 at Maine Medical Center, following a heart attack.
Born in Winslow on July 21, 1922, daughter of Frances Johnson McCarthy and Maurice Franklin McCarthy, superintendent of the Hollingsworth Paper Mill, Winslow. a cia Marcia McCarthy attended WinBrown slow schools, was a graduate and active alumna of Winslow High School Class of 1939 and University of Maine Class of 1943. Throughout her life, she maintained close ties with childhood and college friends, including those from The Wavus Camps Jefferson, which she attended in the 1930's and remained deeply committed as an alumna, camp parent, grandparent, and volunteer. She was easily recognized by her Mustang convertible with the "Wavus" license plate. In the 1940's Marcia worked for the Portland Press Herald and was the first woman sports reporter to cover Maine's harness racing industry.
She was married in 1948 to Bremner Howard Brown of Bradford, Mass. The couple resided in South Paris before settling in Bradford, Mass. to raise their three daughters. In the 1960's Marcia earned two Masters degrees in education and began a 20-year career as a teacher at the Caleb Dustin Hunking School in Bradford. In 1970 Marcia acquired an historic 1750's cape in Groveland, Mass.
where she and her daughters resided and welcomed many friends over the following seventeen years. She retired in 1987 and returned to her home state of Maine in 1988 to be near her daughters and their families, taking up residence in Falmouth. Marcia was an active member of the First Parish Congregational Church of Yarmouth, where she was a member of the church Bell Choir, Women Together and served on the Tri-Community Interfaith Council. She volunteered weekly in the library at the Harrison Middle School, Yarmouth and at The Wavus Foundation, Jefferson. A devoted mother and grandmother, she was known affectionately as "Mimi" by her granddaughter and many of her granddaughter's young friends.
She rarely missed one of their Yarmouth school activities or soccer games. She is predeceased by a daughter, Anne Jennifer in 1975, and survived by two daughters, Marcia F. Brown of Cape Elizabeth and her husband, Nathaniel S. Clifford and Nancy Brown LaBrie and her husband, Mark H. LaBrie of Yarmouth; and two grandchildren, Sean David LaBrie and Katherine "Katie" Johnson LaBrie.
Services will be held Saturday, February 14, at 2 o'clock at The First Parish Church, Yarmouth. A private interment at Mount Auburn Cemetery, Auburn, will follow in the spring. Donations, in lieu of flowers, may be made to: The Wavus Foundation Box 350 Jefferson, ME 04348 or: The First Parish Congregational Church of Yarmouth 116 Main Street Yarmouth ME 04096 Obituary Notice The Portland Press Sunday Telegram publishes paid obituaries daily. These obituaries run in all editions. They are created by the family, and are often a celebration and eulogy of the life of the deceased.
We print a featured obituary each day which runs in addition to the paid obituary. This featured obituary is selected and written by our editorial staff. We also publish information under "Services Visiting Hours" that will be provided at no charge, whether or not an obituary is purchased. The information in this section includes a free listing for any one day of a maximum of four lines. An out of state funeral will receive an additional free day.
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proposed a compromise that would ban same-sex marriage but establish civil unions in Massachusetts a proposal swiftly rejected by the powerful House speaker. Under the proposal, gay couples who wed between mid-May when gay marriages would begin taking place and November 2006, the earliest voters could change the constitution, would be stripped of their marriage licenses and be considered part John James McCormack, 88 SANFORD John J. McCormack, Sr. 88, of Sanford died Feb. 7, 2004 at the Greenwood Center after a long illness.
He was born in Alberton, Prince Edward Island Jan. 13, 1916, a son of Woodfred W. and Elizabeth (Ramsey) MacCormack. He was baptized as "McCormack" March 12. at the Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church.
He became aware of the misspelling of his surname in the parish records when he needed a record of birth from Social Security. Because the civil records were supposedly destroyed by fire, he had to change the spelling of his surname to "McCormack." He family moved to Ashland, in the 1920's. Mr. McCormack was a professional prizefighter in the Featherweight Class during the 1920's and '30's. He fought all over New England under the name "Irish Johnny Mack." He and friend, Kenneth Burgess were featured in a story in the Sanford News in March 1, 1994.
They were the only remaining Sanford fighters. People fought to live in the 1930's. Fighters usually made between $5 and $25 a fight in the days when a weekly wage in the mills could equal as little as $18. Mr. McCormack served in the U.S.
Navy in World War I1. He was stationed in California as a photographer. Mr. McCormack was a 34-year member of the American Legion, and a life member of the AMVETS Post 3 and Commander the second year after it was established. Also, he was a past officer and 30 year member of the Elks, life member of the Disabled American Veterans, life member of the Blinded Veterans Association and member of the Hadley School for the blind.
Mr. McCormack was predeceased by his second wife, Bernice, a sister, Gloria Clarke, two brothers, Wilfred and Walter MacCormack, and a son, Malcolm Lee MacCormack. He is survived by sons, the Rev. John MacCormack, David L. and Richard M.
MacCormack, children of his first marriage; nine grandchildren; and 11 great-grandchildren. Calling hours will be Wednesday, Feb. 11 From 6 8 p.m. at the Heald Funeral Home, 580 Main Street, Springvale. Funeral services will be Thursday, Feb.
12 at 2 p.m. at the funeral home with the Rev. Virginia Gass, officiating. Committal prayers and interment will be later in the spring. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to: Disabled American Veterans VAMC Togus, Maine 04330 To leave a message of condolence, please visit www.healdfuneral.com FUNERAL HOMES Making a difficult time a little.
easier of a civil union. "We should not engage in a divisive, all-or-nothing debate that may end by eliminating all rights for same-sex couples," Senate President Robert Travaglini and Senate Minority Leader Brian Lees, R-East Longmeadow, wrote in a letter sent Tuesday to their colleagues. House Speaker Thomas Finneran, D-Boston, denounced the compromise, calling it "highly inappropriate" to use a constitutional amendment to craft legislation or pass new law, such as civil unions. Finneran also said he would John Edwin Gilmore SCARBOROUGH Mr. John Edwin Gilmore was born in Springfield, Sept.
12, 1918, the son of Preston Dewey Gilmore and Ruth Miles Gilmore. He graduated from West Springfield High School in 1936 and Colby College in Waterville in 1940, where he was a member of the Colby foot- John Edwin Gilmore ball team in 1938 and 1939. He later received a master's degree in history and a master's degree in counseling at the University of Maine at Orono. Mr. Gilmore was a commissioned officer in the Coast Guard during World War II and served on patrol ships in the North Atlantic and the Caribbean.
He taught history in high school at Gorham, Waterville, Cape Elizabeth, and South Portland. At the time of his retirement in 1978, he was guidance director at Deering High School in Portland. In addition to teaching and counseling, Mr. Gilmore coached track and at various time was an assistant coach in football and basketball. He was active in teachers' organizations wherever he taught and was a member of the Maine Teachers' Association, the National Teachers' Association, and the Southern Maine Guidance Association.
Mr. Gilmore was a member of the First Congregational Church of South at one time served as senior deacon. His interests were in travel, reading, music, and doing historical research and writing. He and his wife traveled widely over the years and had many friends across the country. He is survived by his wife of more than 63 years, Ann J.
Gilmore of Piper Shores, Scarborough; a son, Richard S. Gilmore of Danvers, a daughter, Susanne G. Arthur and her husband, KC MacArthur of South Portland; and five grandchildren, Scott C. Snow of Cape Elizabeth, W. Cory Snow and his wife Sheila Sullivan of Portland, Richard Gilmore, and his wife Patrice of Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts, James Gilmore of Cambridge, and Brooke Gilmore of Danvers, Mass.
In lieu of flowers contributions may be made to the: American Heart Association or the: First Congregational Church of South Portland Visiting hours will be held from 4-7 p.m. Thursday, February 12, at the Hobbs Funeral Home, 230 Cottage Road, South Portland, where a funeral service will take place 11 a.m. Friday, February 13th. Interment will be held in the spring at Riverside Cemetery in Cape Elizabeth Attention Home Oxygen Users: You Have a Choice! 2 We're a local Maine munity Oxygen Oxygen company serving Maine people Co giving you prompt, TOLL FREE reliable home 1-877-203-0322 medical oxygen. WE ACCEPT WHAT Serving all of Midcoast 221934001 MEDICARE ALLOWS Southern Maine pursue a separate statute that would prevent gay marriage licenses from being issued in mid-May, because voters could overturn the law in 2006.
"We will have absolute legal bedlam in this commonwealth and in this country if we have that interim period," Finneran said. A week after the state's highest court made it clear that nothing short of full-fledged marriage would be legal under the state's current constitution, legal maneuvering and legislative wrangling reached a new intensity on Tuesday. In a tightly controlled Legislature, where few votes carry any suspense, today's convention promised be a potentially untidy affair, with few leaders able to guarantee an outcome or even which amendments will be voted on. The gay-marriage issue has created an unprecedented spectacle at the Statehouse: As many as 4,000 spectators and 300 media members are expected to attend the afternoon start of the constitutional convention, and a furious lobbying effort was already under way. Massachusetts put itself at the very center of the gay-marriage More Obituaries, Service Times Remembrances on 8B Stephen Reid Capps, 89 Jennie M.
Ginn, 76 CHEBEAGUE ISLAND Stephen Reid Capps, 89, died suddenly at the Island Commons on Chebeague Island on Feb. 8, 2004. He was born in Washington, D.C. on Oct. 30, 1914, a son of Stephen Reid and Isabelle Webster Capps.
He attended Washington D.C. public schools and graduated from Illinois College in 1937. After graduating he moved to Fort Wayne, to begin a training program at International Harvester. With the onset of World War II, he moved to General Electric in order to make a greater contribution to the war effort. His work in GE's Specialty Transformer Department spanned more than 30 years, and he ended his career as the Manager of Employer-Employee Relations for that Department, retiring in 1973.
One of the highlights of his young life was the summer he spent in Alaska in 1935 working for two colleagues of his father, all geologists with the United States Geological Survey, who were charged with mapping the Alaska interior. He was a lifelong summer resident of Chebeague Island, where his youth was filled with sailing, fishing with some of the Island fishermen and playing golf. He first met his wife, Katharine Swenarton on Chebeague at the age of ten and married her on June 21, 1941. They returned to Maine as year-round residents in 1982, living first in Portland, where he was a long-standing member of the State Street Church Choir. He moved to the Highlands in Topsham in 1999 and to the Island Commons on Chebeague last August.
He was a member of the Great Chebeague Golf Club Board and served a term as its President. He enjoyed working with his hands and drew on his strong artistic bent by caning, rushing, and repairing chairs, hooking rugs, and gardening. He was an ardent Red Sox and Patriots fan and was able to find common interest with everyone he met. He is survived by his wife of nearly 63 years, Katharine of Chebeague; his two daughters, Sarah Tubbesing of Freeport and her husband, Carl and Rosemary Merchant of Oakland, Calif. and her husband, John; one son, Stephen Reid Capps IV of Mount Airy, his wife, Linnea, their two daughters, Katharine and Jennifer and a great-grandson, Michael; and his brother Webster of Portland.
He was predeceased by two sisters, Mary Capps Stelle and Louise Capps Scranton. A memorial service will be scheduled this summer on Chebeague Island. Instead of flowers, the family requests that memorial donations be made to: The Island Commons 132 Littlefield Road Chebeague Island, ME 04017 Arrangements are by the NORTH YARMOUTH Jennie M. Ginn, 76, of North Yarmouth died Monday evening at a Freeport nursing home after battling a long illness with breast cancer. She was born on May 9, 1927, in Portland the daughter of Roy and Myra Lovell Barter.
As a child, she attended North Yarmouth Congregational Church and during World War II she would spend time with her sister on Hayes farm spotting planes from a lookout and calling in the direction of the planes flights as well as their type. Also as a child she did work for the Burrows Co. making ammo boxes and shell casings. She was a graduate of Greely Institute in 1945. In August of 1950 she was married to Donald R.
Ginn, Sr. During their marriage she was employed by National Bisquit for 11 assistant years, and worked as a nursing caregiver for the Pineland Center for 28 years before retiring. Jennie was a member of the Ladies Auxillary to the North Yarmouth Fire the Yarmouth Senior Citizens, and the Westcustago Grange. She enjoyed playing cards, games, contests, fairs and parades. She also liked playing Bingo.
She was an avid New England sports fan and enjoyed practical jokes. Jennie was predeceased by seven brothers, two sisters and one grandson. She is survived by her husband of 53 years, Donald R. Ginn, Sr. of North Yarmouth; three sons, Donald R.
Ginn, Jr. of Pinehurst, N.C., Maynard S. Ginn of North Yarmouth and Robert T. Ginn of Pownal; three daughters, Alberta F. Kelley of California, Beth A.
Riendeau of Hermon and Heidi A. Yates of Indianapolis, Ind. She is also survived by four sisters, Susie Smith of Freeport, Frances Barter of North Yarmouth, Phyllis Crichton of North Yarmouth and Nellie Kendrick of North Yarmouth; as well as 14 grandchildren; four greatgrandchildren; and several nieces and nephews. A visiting hour will be held for Mrs. Ginn on Saturday February 14 from 10 to 11 a.m.
followed by a memorial service at 11 a.m. at Lindquist Funeral Home, 1 Mayberry Lane, Yarmouth, ME 04096. Interment will take place in the spring by the family. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the: North Yarmouth Fire and Rescue Dept. 10 Village Square Road North Yarmouth, ME 04097 Arrangements made by Lindquist Funeral Home.
Dignity Lindquist Funeral Home 846-4011 Lindquist Funeral Home. Turn to Wheels in Friday's Press Herald debate when the Supreme Judicial Court ruled 4-3 in November that gays should be guaranteed the benefits of marriage. Lawmakers thought that Vermont style civil unions might suffice, but the court issued an advisory opinion last week that left no doubt: Only full-fledged gay marriage would be legal under the current Constitution. Today, the House and Senate will meet together to consider 10 proposed constitutional amendments. The gay-marriage issue is near the bottom of the agenda and might not get to a final vote for days.
Harold L. Cole, 82 TOPSHAM Harold L. Cole, 82, of Elm Street, died Sunday, Feb. 8, 2004 at Mid Coast Hospital, Brunswick. He was born in Biddeford on June 6, 1921, the son of Leon A.
and Ada Bryant Cole. After attending Saco schools and graduating from Thornton Academy, he attended the University of Maine, Orono. His education was interrupted by World War II during which he served in the Pacific Theater as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Army Air Force. He resumed his studies at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and graduated with a degree in engineering. He married Harriet Clark Jan.
24, 1942 in Saco. Mrs. Cole died in 2002 shortly after they had celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary. Mr. Cole began his professional career with General Electric in Schenectady and Johnson City, New York.
In 1962, he moved to Lynnfield, Mass. where he worked for the Raytheon Corporation in Lexington, Mass. After retirement the Coles moved to their summer home in the Ferry Beach section of Saco. Following his wife's death in 2002, he moved to the Highlands, Topsham. He was an avid ham radio operator since adolescence and maintained many contacts around the country.
He enjoyed sailing the Maine coast and built his own 22 foot trimaran. His lifelong interest in flying culminated in 1994 when he earned his pilot's license at the age of 73. He is survived by two daughters, Diana Reeder of Sebastopol, Calif. and Marilyn Wilkoff and her husband, William of Brunswick; two sons, Donald Cole and his wife, Diane of Derry, N.H. and David Cole of Chelmsford, three brothers, Alton Cole and his wife, Alice of Kingfield and Old Orchard, David Cole and his wife, Jackie of Elberton, Ga.
and Lawrence Cole of Deland, nine grandchildren; and one great -grandchild. At the request of Mr. Cole there will be no services. Those wishing to express their remembrances may do so by contributing to the: Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Massachusetts Chapter 495 Old Connecticut Path Framingham, MA 01701 or the: American Heart Association Maine Affiliate P.O. Box 346 Augusta, ME 04332-0346 Arrangements by Brackett Funeral Home, 29 Federal Street, Brunswick, Maine 04011.
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