CORINNA — The generosity of a Bangor woman will be long remembered in Corinna.
Lucille Hutchins Reed, a native of Corinna, died in November at age 87 after being hospitalized.
Bequests from her estate will provide a $10,000 endowment to Corinna’s historic Stewart Memorial Library, and up to $50,000 for scholarships for college-bound Corinna students graduating from Nokomis Regional High School. Another $10,000 bequest was designated for the Second Congregational Church in Brewer. Reed also specified some smaller bequests and gifts to friends and family.
Reed was a former teacher who served schools in Corinna, Bangor and Brewer. Among those schools was the former Corinna Union Academy, the local high school until the town joined SAD 48. Reed also attended the Corinna schools while growing up there.
“She was a wonderful lady. And she felt strongly about doing something to benefit those [Corinna] kids,” said Brewer lawyer Joseph Ferris.
Reed’s dedication to education and to offering help to the children of her hometown was shared by her husband, Donald, who resides in a nursing home, Ferris said. The couple had no children of their own. The scholarship money is intended to fund the Donald S. Reed and Lucille H. Reed Memorial Scholarship. It is to be funded by the balance of her estate after other bequests and expenses.
“That’s our goal — to maximize as much as we can,” said Ferris.
The maximum is expected to meet or exceed $50,000, he said. A trust fund is to be established to allow the income to fund scholarships. Recipients of the scholarships will be decided by a committee including the principal of Nokomis.
“[The Reeds] had a wonderful marriage,” said the Rev. Scott Cleveland of her Brewer church. “I visited with them frequently at the Maine Veterans Home where her husband resides. She spent much of her time there. I didn’t know about the bequest then.”
Cleveland said the church would use the gift for a trust fund and use the income for church expenses as she had asked.
“She was always interested in others,” Cleveland said. “She was a fine example of a lovely Christian woman.”
It was Reed’s “penetrating and inquisitive mind” that kept her sharp and focused, he said.
“She was the type of person you enjoyed visiting. She was very stimulating,” Cleveland added. “I visited with her the day before she died. I think she knew she wasn’t going to go on much longer.”
Reed’s bequest to the school district is scheduled to be formally accepted by the school board at a meeting next week.
Corinna librarian June Jaworski was not familiar with Lucille Reed, but learned that some people in the community recall having her as a teacher. Reed’s will specifies the library use income from the trust fund to purchase books in the couple’s memory. Jaworski said she hopes to supplement the children’s book collection with resource books such as geography and history.
It’s an area of the collection that is needed as the tiny library competes with school libraries and children compete for access to the information.
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