WATERVILLE – Jane K. Leighton, 92, a resident of Waterville, died July 19, 2024, in Scarborough, following a brief illness. She died surrounded by her loving family.

She was born Oct. 1, 1931, in Greenville, the daughter of David L. and Lucy B. Knowlton. After graduating from Greenville High School, she attended the University of Maine for two years, then transferred to Cornell University – New York Hospital School of Nursing in New York City, where she earned a B.S. degree in Nursing in 1955. Immediately after graduation, she worked at New York Hospital for three years, where she became a head nurse in the obstetrics department.

She then returned to Maine and married Albert K. (“Bart”) Leighton on Aug. 16, 1958. They settled in Waterville in 1962 to raise their family. She worked as a registered nurse at both Thayer and Seton Hospitals through the latter half of the 1960s, whereupon she shifted her primary focus to raising her children.

Jane loved to bake, a craft she picked up during childhood in her family’s bakery in Greenville. There were always freshly baked bread, cookies, rolls and doughnuts at the Leighton house – to the delight of visitors to her home. A favorite activity was picking blueberries in August, and her family enjoyed blueberry pies and muffins year-round as there were always hand-picked blueberries in the freezer. She learned to cook at her family’s restaurant and relished finding fresh produce to serve with home-cooked meals made from scratch every day to her family. She was also an avid reader and writer, either in her personal journals or letters to her children when away at camps or college. She stressed in her children core values such as compassion, hard work, and education – leading by example with her loving ways.

Jane was a very caring person and formed many strong bonds and special relationships with friends too numerous to name in the Morrill Avenue neighborhood and beyond. Over the years, she was a regular volunteer at the sandwich program hosted by the local churches, as well as at Maine General Hospital – Thayer Unit.

She was predeceased by her husband, who died in 2005, as well as by her sister, Virginia K. Fowle, and her brother, John D. Knowlton. She is survived by a daughter, Martha, of New York, N.Y.; son Michael and wife, Karen Dostaler, and her precious grandson Aiden of Saco; son Andrew and wife, Juli, of Dudley, Mass.; son Mark of Manassas, Va.; and son John of Brooklyn, N.Y. She is also survived by her sister-in-law Elizabeth Leighton Davis and her husband Robert of Holden, Mass., and by her sister-in-law and fellow nursing school classmate, Carol Nash Knowlton of Meredith, N.H., as well as several nieces and nephews.

Jane’s family wishes to extend a thank you to the wonderful residents and staff at Scarborough Terrace, her home for the last two years.

Services will be held on Wednesday, July 24, at Wheeler Funeral Home, 26 Church Street, Oakland. Friends and family are invited to join visiting hours beginning at 9 a.m.; the service will begin at 10 a.m. A private burial service will take place later in the day at the Greenville Cemetery.

Greenville always remained such a special place in her heart. Accordingly, memorial donations in Jane’s memory may be made to The Moosehead Historical Society & Museums, 444 Pritham Avenue, P.O. Box 1116, Greenville, ME 04441.