Lewellyn John Willette
WILLETTE, Lewellyn John, 99, Maine, at Scarborough, April 24, 2015. A Mass in his honor will be said on Friday, May 8, at 10 a.m., in the Chapel of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. Arrangements are under the care of Jones-Rich-Hutchins Funeral Home, Portland.
Lewellyn John Willette
MAINE – Lewellyn John Willette (Lew a.k.a.Soup) passed away peacefully on Friday, April 24, 2015, at the Maine Veteran’s Home in Scarborough, ME. He was born in Presque Isle, ME, on June 17, 1915, to Joseph Alexander Willette and Alice Theresa Cassidy.
Lew was a direct descendant of Rene Houallet who emigrated from Paris, France, to lie d’Orleans, Montmorency, Quebec, in 1666. He was proud of his French and native American lineage. He and his family relocated to Portland, ME, in the late 1930s. He served as a Merchant Marine during World War II and took part in the famous Murmansk relief run. Later in life, he returned to the sea travelling globally as a proud member of the Seafarers International Union. He was a communicant of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception and a lifelong Democrat.
Besides his parents, he was predeceased by his siblings, Dorothy, Charles, Thomas, Phyllis, Madelene, Joseph, Robert, Richard, Avis, Marjorie, Patricia and Dana.
He is survived by his three children, Maxine Hight and her husband, Arthur, Alice Krasowski, and Rusty and his wife, Gail D’Agostino; and grandchildren, Scott, Stephen and Shawn Hight, Melissa Krasowski, and Nicholas and Veronica Willette; in addition to nine great-grandchildren; numerous nieces and nephews; and special niece, Anne Duval and her husband, Mark.
A Mass in his honor will be said on Friday, May 8, at 10 a.m., in the Chapel of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. Interment will follow at the Calvary Cemetary in South Portland. In lieu of flowers, donations in his honor may be sent to St. Vincent de Paul Soup Kitchen, 403 Congress St., Portland, ME 04101. Arrangements are under the care of Jones-Rich-Hutchins Funeral Home, Portland.
Our heartfelt appreciation goes out to the beautiful, loving staff at the Maine Veteran’s Home.
“I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship
and a star to steer her by;
And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking, And a grey mist on the sea’s face, and a grey dawn breaking.”
— John Masefield
Pax Vobiscum Soup!