Gloria Anne (Godbout) White

WEST GARDINER – Gloria Anne (Godbout) White passed away peacefully on Aug. 15, 2022, at Woodlands Senior Living in Hallowell, after several years of declining health.

Gloria was born on Oct. 17, 1939, in Augusta, Maine, to Romeo and Lucille (Giroux) Godbout. Gloria attended Edward Little High School in Auburn and Cony High School in Augusta. At Edward Little, she met Lennice “Leni” Harris, who became her lifelong friend and sister-in-law.

In the summer of 1959, Gloria met the love of her life, Robert “Bob” E. White of South Gardiner.

Bob served in the U.S. Navy from 1952-1957 and worked at the Togus VA Medical Center.

They married on Dec. 12, 1959. After living in an apartment in Augusta for a few years, Gloria and Bob bought a house on the Pond Road in West Gardiner where they lived and raised three sons until Bob passed away in 2017. They were happily married for 58 years.

Gloria worked at Health-Tex in Farmingdale in the early 1960s. After her first son was born in 1966, she became a full-time mom and homemaker. In the late 1970s, when her sons were older, she went back to work. She worked at Zayre’s in Augusta, Agway in Farmingdale, and Enterprise Farms in Richmond. She also served on the Parent Teacher Association in West Gardiner, the Women’s Auxiliary of the Gardiner Sportsmen’s Club, and as a Cub Scout pack leader.

Gloria was a wonderful mom and grandmother. In the summer, she loved taking her sons to Bear Pond, Reid State Park, Pemaquid Point, Popham Beach, and camping at Canada Falls.

During school breaks, she would take her sons and their friends bowling, to the movies, and out for pizza lunches. Although distance prevented her from seeing her grandchildren as much as she would have liked, she indulged them during visits.

Gloria enjoyed reading novels, especially mysteries, and was a regular patron of the Gardiner Public Library for decades. She passed on her love of reading to her children and grandchildren. She loved gardening, collecting antiques and knickknacks, making puzzles, playing cribbage, sewing, and crocheting. She crocheted numerous blankets for family members. She especially enjoyed decorating for the holidays and hosting holiday get togethers.

Gloria was predeceased by her husband, Bob, in 2017; parents, Romeo and Lucille Godbout; brother Lionel Godbout and sister in-law Leni Godbout; half-brother David Hunt; and grandsons, Nathaniel and Samuel White.

She is survived by son Michael White and wife Amanda Ross-White and their children Rebecca, age 12, and Alexander, age 10, of Kingston, Ontario; son Jeffrey White and wife Fiona (Swan) White of Dunkirk, Maryland; son James White of Maine; half-brother Larry Hunt of Los Angeles; nieces and nephews Daphne, David, Debora, Daniel, and extended family members.

Many thanks to the staff of Woodlands Senior Living in Hallowell for their kind and compassionate care of Gloria during the past few years, and to the nurses of Androsccoggin Hospice for comforting her during her final days.

A memorial will be held in 2023.

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, please consider donating to the Alzheimer’s or dementia charity of your choice.