BANGOR – Kathlyn “Kay” Louise O’Brien, passed away in Bangor on Friday August 18, 2023, surrounded by family.

Kay was born on Oct. 10, 1936, in Southwest Harbor, Maine. She graduated from Pemetic High School in Southwest Harbor in 1954. She attended and graduated from the Eastern Maine Nursing School in 1957, then organizationally attached to Eastern Maine Medical Center, now Northern Light EMMC. As part of her nursing training, she completed clinical rotations in pediatrics, obstetrics, and gynecology at Boston Lying In Hospital, now Brigham and Women’s Hospital, as well as a clinical rotation in psychiatry at Bangor Mental Health Institute.

While attending nursing school in Bangor, she met her husband, Patrick J. O’Brien, at a street dance. Patrick was stationed at Dow Air Force Base, which is now Bangor International Airport. They married in 1957 and were married for just short of 53 years until his death in May 2012.

Kay loved working as a registered nurse. Over the course of her 43-year nursing career she had the opportunity to work in several states. As a result of her husband’s military career, she lived and worked as a nurse in Bangor; Anchorage, Alaska; Oklahoma City, Okla.; Washington D.C. and Bar Harbor, Maine. In 1972, she and her family moved to Maine permanently and made a home in Hallowell. Once in Maine, she was initially employed at the Veterans Administration at Togus, but subsequently worked as a Public Health Nurse for the Maine Department of Human Services, the Maine Veterans Home in Augusta, and Augusta General Hospital, eventually ending her career at MaineGeneral, Thayer Campus working part time in the Rehab Unit in Waterville.

In retirement she began taking classes at the University of Maine at Augusta (UMA) and graduated at age 80 with a B.A. in Political Science. At that time, she was the second oldest graduate of UMA.

Beyond her career and family, she loved playing bridge, which she played consistently even into her later years. She was a lifelong Episcopalian and was active in the vestry at the previous St. Matthews Church in Hallowell and served as a volunteer at the St. Marks Home for Women. She was a parish member of Christ Church in Gardiner at the time of her death.

She was predeceased by her husband, Patrick J. O’Brien; her parents, Raleigh E. Stanwood and Madeline N. Stanwood; a nephew Robert L. Higgins; as well as uncles and aunts. She is survived by her children, daughter Maureen S. O’Brien of Farmington, son Timothy S. O’Brien and his wife Kim of Bar Harbor; grandson Cullen and his wife Erin of Pittsburgh, Pa., grandson Seamus O’Brien and his fiancé Kira Wilson; daughter Patricia K. O’Brien of Augusta, daughter Jeanie Douglass and her husband David of Mt. Pleasant, SC; granddaughters Katya and Deanna Douglass and grandsons Mikhael and Anthony Douglass; brother Robert Stanwood of Hancock, Maine. sister Edith Higgins of Southwest Harbor; as well nieces and nephews.

Her family would like to thank the doctors and nursing staff at Martins Point Health Care in Portland, MaineGeneral Health in Augusta, the Maine Veterans Home in Bangor, and Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center who treated and cared for her over the last 18 months as she struggled with a series of complex health issues.

There will be visiting hours for family and friends from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday Sept. 1, at Staples Funeral Home in Gardiner. There will be a memorial service at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 2, at Christ Church in Gardiner. A subsequent graveside service will be held at the Maine Veteran’s Cemetery for immediate family.

Arrangements are entrusted with Staples Funeral Home and Cremation Care, 53 Brunswick Avenue, Gardiner, Maine. Condolences, memories, and photos may be shared with the family on the obituary page of the Staples Funeral Home website, http://www.staplesfuneralhome.com.

In lieu of flowers,

donations can be made to:

LEAP, Inc.

108 LEAP Lane

Farmington, ME 04938

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