Priscilla Platt

FALMOUTH – Priscilla Platt, 79, of Falmouth, died on May 1, 2025, at Gosnell House.

Priscilla was born on Jan. 22, 1946, in Bangor, daughter of Hamilton Gray and Prudence Jones Gray. She lived in Bangor until moving with her family to Columbus, Ohio in 1956.

She was a fierce tennis player and competed in tournaments throughout New England and the Mid-West. As a teenager, she and her father mercilessly dominated Christmas Cove tennis matches. She graduated from Connecticut College with a B.S. in Zoology, having spent her junior year abroad in Japan.

Priscilla married David Day Platt in 1969. They moved from New York to Maine and raised their two sons in Winterport and Yarmouth before they split in 2007.

After earning a master’s degree in Library Science from the University of Maine in Orono, Priscilla worked as a medical librarian at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor. Later, she became a much-loved school librarian. Priscilla received several grants for technological literacy, including a Diamond Grant from MSAD 75, which enabled her to travel to China as part of a professional and cultural exchange.

Priscilla attended the Chaplaincy Institute of Maine (CHIME) and was ordained as an Inter-Faith minister. She and her then partner, Philip Rhinelander, co-facilitated a weekly service at St. Luke’s Cathedral in Portland, based on a service created by the Taize Brothers in France.

Her own experience with life-threatening illness and the long-term effects of cancer treatment gave her an understanding of people’s struggles with chronic disease. Priscilla became a hospice volunteer and was trained by the Southern Maine Area Agency on Aging to be a facilitator for their program on the management of chronic illness. Priscilla also developed and taught classes in end-of-life choices. At the end, she put her own beliefs into practice and made the decision to go enter hospice.

Priscilla put everyone else above herself and had an ability to connect with the good in all. She made people feel seen and heard, was a warm, gracious soul and served as an unofficial therapist to many. Her hardy laugh consumed her whole body, and you always knew you could cackle along with her. Her love of books, birds and chocolate led Priscilla many places including England, Italy, Mexico, France and Switzerland.

She was a leader all her life, from Columbus School for Girls to the Ocean View Retirement Community. She fully embraced her life at Ocean View which included rich friendships, social events and lots of yoga. After years of enduring home renovation projects, she was happy to finally live in a finished house.

Priscilla is survived by her son, Joshua Platt, his wife Sarah Draper Platt and their children Lily Catharine and Benjamin Joseph; her son, William Platt and his wife Britt Lundgren and their daughter, Ada Gray; her sister, Faith Harriet Gray, brother, Charles Gray; niece Kirsten Platt and her husband, Michael Stone; and a much-loved extended family.

A service for family and friends will be held at the First Universalist Church in Yarmouth on June 14, at 1 p.m.

Priscilla hoped that she was living by the motto, “Live fully, dig deeply and love wastefully.” She encourages you to do the same. Priscilla asks that you buy a flower in her memory and give it to someone you love.

We’re all just walking each other home.

Donations may be made to Hospice of Southern Maine.

Her family is deeply grateful for their care.