1919 – 2014

BRUNSWICK — Margaret A. Bertocci, 94, of Brunswick, died Sunday, Jan. 26, at her home at Sunnybrook Village, in the loving care of family and friends.

Margaret was born on July 11, 1919, in Lewiston, to Eleanor Margaret True and Charles Edward Allen, both of Freeport. Raised in Auburn, Margaret graduated from Edward Little High School in 1937 and Mount Holyoke College in 1941. Following college, Margaret worked as a reporter and copy editor for the Lewiston Daily Sun.

Margaret married S. Theodore Bertocci of Somerville, Mass., on Jan. 16, 1943. Margaret and Ted made their home in Bath, where Ted was employed at Bath Iron Works. In 1972, after raising three sons, Margaret and Ted moved to Arrowsic, where they restored a 200-year-old cape on Doubling Point Road at Fiddler’s Reach.

Margaret and Ted enjoyed gardening and defined the Doubling Point community as the first year-round residents. Subsequent neighbors valued them as good friends and a focal point of the Doubling Point experience. Margaret and Ted took a long-awaited trip to Europe in 1981, including a visit to Ted’s ancestral hometown of Gaeta, Elena, Italy, where they met many cousins and friends of Ted’s family.

Throughout her life, Margaret was actively involved in her church, Central Congregational (now the Chocolate Church) and subsequently the United Church of Christ, where she held leadership positions including as chair of the Women’s Fellowship.

Margaret participated in virtually every aspect of church life, and she and Ted were dedicated members of the choir. Margaret was renowned for her lasagna and baked and cooked prodigiously for church events, frequently to the despair of her sons, who were often warned off the proceeds.

Margaret’s community efforts included the Junior Hospital League at Bath Memorial Hospital as a coffee shop volunteer and chair of the High Fever Follies fundraiser. Margaret was, for many years, a board member of the Patten Free Library, an institution she valued dearly. An avid reader, Margaret continued to be an active participant in her reading group until a few months before her passing.

Margaret is remembered as a warm, gracious and loving person; a wonderful grandma with oodles of blueberries in the backyard; and as one smart lady who kept pace with changing times. Margaret welcomed newcomers, embraced individual differences and was unfailingly supportive of family and friends.

Margaret is survived by her sons, David C. Bertocci of Alexandria, Va., and Andrew G. Bertocci of Yarmouth; a sister, Martha Irvine of Burlington, Vt.; five grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; and a loving extended family.

She is predeceased by her husband of 51 years, S. Theodore Bertocci; her son, Thomas A. Bertocci; sister, Mary E. Allen; and brother, David C. Allen.

The family extends sincere thanks to Margaret’s caregivers at Sunnybrook Village and CHANS Home Health Care.

To share your thoughts and condolences with the family, please visit www.desmondfuneralhomes.com.