Marian Ruth Hodgkins

1939 - 2007  (67 years)

• Name	Marian Ruth Hodgkins
  Born	19 Aug 1939	Central Maine General Hospital, Lewiston, Androscoggin County, Maine   [1, 2, 3]
  Gender	Female
  Education	1957, Edward Little High School, Auburn, Maine graduate
  Education	Studied professional courses and attained CPIW designation
  Occupation	Property and Casualty Insurance Agent, Anderson-Watkins Associates, Inc., Westbrook, Maine
  Residence	Ledgewood Drive and Hamlin Road, Falmouth, Cumberland County, Maine
  Social Security Number	004-36-8297  [2]
  Cemetery notes	Plot C61
  Died	6 Mar 2007	Falmouth, Cumberland County, Maine   [1]
  Buried	2 Jun 2007	Mount Auburn Cemetery, Auburn, Androscoggin County, Maine
  Notes	Being born in 1939, I remember very little of World War II. I did know that my Uncle Mack Akerley was away at war and that the Gowell "boys" across the street were also gone to fight for the country. Being the youngest in my family by six years I guess my life did differ from my sister, Methyl. I remember my grandmother Akerley always lived with us when I was small. I loved her and always was interested in what she was doing. I learned to knit from her. I wanted to help when she cut out and pasted in her scrapbooks. I have these books and have cherished them. They have provided hugh amounts of information for my genealogy. I always wanted to have tea with her and begged for her to read the tea leaves. I sat with her in the middle of the kitchen where her rocker was and remember being rocked by her on many occasions. I do remember that my father worked nights during the war driving a city bus. I can remember waking up and rocking with my mother in the kitchen waiting for him to come home. We lived in a brick farm house on Lake Street in Auburn, Maine. The home had been built by my father's grandfather, Ebenezer J. E. Hodgkins. My dad farmed and hayed the land until I was in my teens. He operated a dairy farm and delivered milk until I was in the first grade. I remember teasing to ride with him when he delivered milk but didn't get to go very often. Being the youngest and have no siblings to play with I spent a lot of time visiting the older neighbor women. Mrs. Millett was my favorite. I loved the Lily of the Valley that grew beside her front walk and was allowed to walk there because I could go right along the corn field without going in the street. The family had one cow and she used to make butter in a tiny glass churn that always fascinated me because you could see the liquid change to butter. I liked to watch her mend because she used a glass egg and my mother didn't have one of those. I would sit in her kitchen and talk with her while she did laundry on Monday mornings, or while she ironed or cooked. Her girls were older and after Barbara married and they turned their upstairs into an apartment for her, I used to visit with Barbara. Across the street from the Millett's was the Stackpoles and their daughter and husband the Parkers. I used to be sent to the Stackpoles for eggs and told that I could visit with them. I loved to go in the pantry where they weighted the eggs and packed a dozen for me. I always stayed for a visit with Mrs. Stackpole. Across the street was my grandfather and grandmother Hodgkins. Grampa was always at our house. He came early in the morning, in the summer, went home for lunch and a short nap and came back and worked in the afternoon. Sometimes he came in the kitchen to visit but most of the time he helped by father in the barn and the fields. Mostly I remember him helping with the haying and hoeing and picking corn and tomatoes. I went to school at Lake Street School. We walked and since I lived the farthest away I joined other kids along the way. We walked home for lunch and then back in the afternoon. Sometimes my dad would plan his trips to town so that he came along and picked us up for a ride home at noon. Donna and I always had to ride in the cab with Daddy but the other kids got to jump in the back of his pickup truck. Later I went to Webster Junior High School. Part of the time I attend Webster I rode on the school bus and later I walked to school. Sometimes in bad weather we took the city bus home which brought us up to the "Corner". I always had to walk home from there. At Edward Little High School the city provided special bus routes which again picked us up at the "Corner" but took us directly to the high school. When school got out the buses were parked at the school to return us home. When in high school I sometimes rode to the School Bus Garage with my father and then walked over to school. If I had to go back to school in the afternoon I rode back with Dad when he went for his afternoon school bus route. During my teen years I did several different things to earn money. Starting quite young I was allowed to pick strawberries and in later years I opened the roadside stand where I got five cents for every quart of berries I sold. I used to ride my bicycle to Taylor Pond to baby sit everyday one summer for Dr. Hass's family of three children. Another summer I babysat for the Chaplin family which lived at the "Corner". Every summer in August when the roadside stand was open to sell corn, I helped. I don't remember what I was paid but I know that at the end of the day when Dad cashed up I was always given something if I had worked. Of course, I was always on hand to help him cash up as I wanted to know how well we had done that day. I enjoyed this work and some time neighbor kids would come by to visit with me when it wasn't busy. My senior year I started working at B. Peck Co. (where my mother worked) after school and on Saturday. I worked in the Budget Dress Department and got the job of picking up after the customers. I had to rebutton the dresses, put the belts back around them (twice) and refold the aprons. I hated the apron work because there was always another customer taking them apart. When I graduated I went to work for Depositors Trust Company a bank on Lisbon Street in Lewiston for $40 a week. The minimum pay at that time was a dollar an hour and I thought this was great pay for a thirty-five hour work week. I worked there from June 1957 until Gary and I moved to Cape Elizabeth in February 1961. I learned to drive during high school in my father's pickup. My friend, Linda Parker and I used to drive around through the farm fields and pasture land. I took driving lessons the first summer out of school and got my license. My father had a 1949 Hudson and that is what I had to use. I purchased my first car, a 1954 Mercury, while working at the bank. It was a beautiful two-tone green and in great condition but it use did use up alternators. When it's lights started to dim you wanted to be near home or at least a telephone to call Dad. I met Gary in the ninth grade. He came to Auburn that year to attend school after graduating from the eight grade in Greene. We were both in the band and that is now we met. We also had a friend in common. Marilyn Hodgkins came in from Greene with him for ninth grade and she sat in front of me in home room. We started dating in high school. He asked to drive me home after a band practice and we used to spend a lot of time together on band trips. We also went to Washington, DC in our senior year with the Biology Club. During the summer after graduation we began to date regularly and he gave me his high school ring. Later I wore his Bates College pin. After our children were born and James was ready to start school, I went back to work. This time it was at an insurance agency on Bucknam Road in Falmouth. I was working about thirty-five hours a week and saw the children off to school on the bus in the morning and got home when they did in the afternoon. I worked for Herbert Merrill, a paraplegic. He dictated the work and I typed. It was the first time I had ever used an electric typewriter. I later became the bookkeeper and started to learn a little about insurance. The agency name was Insurance Counselors, Inc. That agency was bought by Anderson-Watkins Associates, Inc., Brighton Avenue, Portland. Both Alberta Harlow and myself went with the business to the new agency. Alberta went to work in their commercial lines department and I was taught the personal lines business. After learning the business and taking some courses I attained the designation of CPIW (Certified Professional Insurance Womam). I was very active in the Falmouth and Maine Jaycee Wives and was honored to be the second woman names the the Maine Jaycee Wives Honor Roll.
  Person ID	i5	Reed
  Last Modified	15 May 2020

  
  

  Father	Merle Atwood Hodgkins,   b. 6 Nov 1905, Auburn, Androscoggin County, Maine ,   d. 27 Jan 1965, Central Maine General Hospital, Lewiston, Androscoggin County, Maine  (Age 59 years)
  Mother	Ida Verna Akerley,   b. 3 Jun 1904, Newcastle Creek, Canning Parish, Queens County, New Brunswick, Canada ,   d. 1 Jan 1992, Maine Medical Center, Portland, Cumberland County, Maine  (Age 87 years)
  Married	23 Nov 1929	Lewiston, Androscoggin County, Maine   [3]
  	Married by Percy L. Vernon, pastor United Baptist Church, Lewiston, Androscoggin County, Maine
  Photos » Slide Show		240 Lake Street, Auburn, Maine
  		Methyl and Duane Hodgkins
  		Merle Hodgkins and Verna Akerley
  Family ID	F1502	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Gary Wallace Reed,   b. 6 Nov 1939, Greene, Androscoggin County, Maine ,   d. 21 Mar 2022, Portland, Cumberland County, Maine  (Age 82 years)
  Children	1. (Living) Reed   2. (Living) Reed   3. (Living) Reed
  Last Modified	6 Apr 2009
  Family ID	F2447	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Event Map

  Born - 19 Aug 1939 - Central Maine General Hospital, Lewiston, Androscoggin County, Maine Residence - - Ledgewood Drive and Hamlin Road, Falmouth, Cumberland County, Maine Died - 6 Mar 2007 - Falmouth, Cumberland County, Maine Buried - 2 Jun 2007 - Mount Auburn Cemetery, Auburn, Androscoggin County, Maine  = Link to Google Earth

  
  

• Photos » Slide Show		Marian R. Hodgkins High School Graduation
  		Marian at Alma's (front)
  		Marian at Alma's (back)
  		Marian on the steps (back)
  		Marian on the steps (front)

  
  

  Documents » Slide Show		Marian Ruth Hodgkins obituary
  		Marian Ruth Hodgkins birth record
  		How I Met My Husband Gary Reed and Marian Hodgkins
  		Reed/Hodgkins Wedding Gary Reed and Marian Hodgkins

  
  

• Sources

  [S15] Social Security Death Index, U.S. Social Security Administration, 004-36-8297. [S812] Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007, U.S. Social Security Administration, 004-36-8297. [S769] Descendants of Bejamin C. Durgin, 1775-1954, Bernice E. Durgin, (Brunswick, Maine, Russell A. French), p. 33.