Burpee, Carpenter & Hutchins Funeral Home

Portland – Lelia Ernestine Marstaller Taylor, formerly of Rockland, ME, passed into the arms of Jesus on July 17, 2017, one month short of her 94th birthday, at Fallbrook Woods Senior Living Center, which had been her home for the last eight years.
Lelia was born in Brunswick, ME August 15, 1923, to Ernest F. and Lelia Syretha Gatchell Marstaller, joining brothers Frank and Louis. She attended Brunswick schools, graduating from Brunswick High School in 1941. She furthered her education at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana, graduating in 1945. After graduation she traveled across the country to Washington state visiting family, friends and Friends (Quaker) Meetings along the way. Upon returning to Maine, she married John S. Taylor on June 10, 1946 at Durham Friends Meeting in Durham, ME.
John and Lelia made their first home on a farm, lovingly named Upward Acres, in Sumner in western Maine. During the years on the farm, Kathleen and then Stephen were born and completed the family. Over the years they moved to several places in Maine with employment changes: Bridgewater in ‘The County’; Hermon, near Bangor; Thomaston on the coast; finally retiring in Rockland. After John died in 2003, Lelia continued to live in Rockland until she needed to be closer family, when she relocated to Portland in 2009.
Lelia was a recorded Friends (Quaker) minister and a longtime member of the North Fairfield, ME Friends Meeting, serving as pastor for many years. She was an accomplished violinist and for a number of years was a member of the Bangor Symphony Orchestra. She always enjoyed adding her violin to the Sunday morning hymns. Lelia was a certified reflexologist and was always studying healthy nutrition and the role of supplements in health. She enjoyed teaching, poetry and live music. With her ‘green thumb’, she was often busy gardening, tending plantings inside and outside. She loved watching the birds and the squirrels’ antics, seeing mountains, woods and sea and being with family and friends. Lelia and John both enjoyed connecting with family and friends across the world, especially at Christmas, with a family events photo card for 50 plus years. At one point, their address list topped 600 addresses. She loved celebrating at holiday times: dressing up as a gypsy for the trick-or-treaters at Halloween; decorating the home for Christmas and again for Valentine’s; celebrating the risen Lord at Easter with baskets of eggs symbolizing new life; showing our nation’s flag and colors especially on the 4th of July. Lelia delighted in all the gifts of God in this life. No matter where she lived or traveled, Lelia found opportunities to serve others and God, not only in Friends Meetings, but in churches of other denominations as well.
Lelia was predeceased by her husband John, brothers Frank E. and Louis J. Marstaller, also son-in-law Roger Nace, and grandson Stephen S. Sherwood and his wife Sara. She is survived by daughter Kathleen Nace, son Stephen Taylor and wife Valerie, grandsons Matthew and wife Julie, Geoffrey and wife Meghan, and three great-granddaughters.
The family would like to express our heartfelt thanks to all the administration and staff at Fallbrook Woods who cared for Mom over the years.
We are also grateful for the help and caring given Mom by the staff and volunteers of Hospice of Southern Maine during the last months.
A memorial service will be held 2:00 PM, September 23, 2017, at the Durham Friends Meeting House, located at the intersection of Quaker Meeting House Road and Route 125 in Durham, ME. Refreshments and visiting to follow. Private interment will be at Lunt Memorial Cemetery, Brunswick, ME.
In lieu of flowers and as a way to honor your memories of Lelia, please make a donation to your local Hospice chapter.
Arrangements by Burpee, Carpenter & Hutchins, Rockland, ME and Lighthouse Crematory and Remembrance, Freeport, ME.