KENNEBUNKPORT - Wendy S. Morton, 75, a beloved wife, mother, grandmother and great- grandmother, early childhood educator, resident of Venice, FL and Kennebunkport, ME passed away quietly on December 4, 2017 following a long illness. As was her wish, Wendy left this world while surrounded by the comfort of her family and friends at her daughter’s family residence in Teton Valley, Victor, ID. She was born October 4, 1942 in Indianapolis, IN, the second daughter of Roy E. and Ruth (Pearce) Thompson and graduated from Paris High School, class of 1960, where she was Valedictorian. Wendy attended Chico State and the University of ME at Orono where she met and married the love of her life, and husband of 54 years, Dana R. Morton.
In 1963, Wendy and Dana moved with their first son, David, from Orono to Manassas, VA where Dana served for a number of years at the Central Intelligence Agency. There, her family grew to include a second son, Timothy, and daughter, Leslie. The Morton family made epic annual 12-hour trips in their green and white Dodge van from VA to summer at the family camp on Lovewell Pond in Fryeburg, ME and returned to Maine permanently in 1971. There, Wendy was an active volunteer in the Limerick Historical Society and wrote a successful grant to establish the Limerick Town Library in the old elementary school. Meanwhile, she completed a Bachelor’s Degree in Teaching at the University of Southern Maine, started several private special education school programs, and taught at various elementary schools in the ME School Administrative District 57. In 2005, she earned a Master of Science in Education at the University of New England prior to retiring from her successful teaching career a year later. As her students and colleagues would attest, “Wendy was a fabulous teacher who really cared for the total-child educational journey, not just the academic piece.”
In retirement, Wendy considered herself very lucky to spend part of each year in Kennebunkport, ME, Bokeelia and Venice, Florida. She always had a creative spirit. As a young child she produced movies on rollers for family viewing and a weekly family newspaper tapped out on a typewriter. She was renowned for making her Christmas “elephant balls”, homemade pickles and her famous piccalilli. Wendy was an avid gardener and always surrounded her homes with beautifully flowered landscapes while maintaining vibrant vegetable gardens and fruit trees. She was also a natural packrat, saving bits and pieces of things that caught her eye for myriad craft projects. Over the years, she enjoyed sewing, knitting and primitive rug hooking. Her love of all things involving paint, glue, paper craft and other messy endeavors were favorite times for her children and those in her classes.
Despite never having had formal training in drawing or art, Wendy was an accomplished painter. She eagerly signed up for a community watercolor class when retirement provided the opportunity. This led to classes in acrylics and other mediums. She was intrigued by the nuances of color and enjoyed the challenge of mixing and matching from a limited palette. Her voluminous painted works remaining today include Maine and Florida landscapes, wildlife, flowers, beautifully painted beach rocks and other things that caught her fancy.
Wendy was very proud of her large, active, loving and accomplished family. She was preceded in death by her husband, Dana, and is survived by two sons, David Morton and wife Ann of Weston, FL; Timothy Morton and wife Gina of Woodinville, WA; one daughter, Leslie (Morton) Heinemann and husband David of Victor, ID; one sister, Carol (Thompson) Bajen-Gahm and husband Rex Passion of Cambridge, MA and Torbay, NL; two brothers, Roy E. Thompson, Jr. and wife Susan of Cape Elizabeth, ME; and Arthur Thompson and wife Anne-Marie of Sarasota, FL, ten grand-children and one great grandchild.
The family is planning a celebration of life during the summer in Kennebunkport, ME. In lieu of flowers, Wendy requested that memorial donations be made to benefit the “Organ Replacement Fund” of the Second Congregational Church, 19 Crescent St., Biddeford, ME 04005.
Organ Replacement Fund” of the Second Congregational Church
19 Crescent St., Biddeford, ME 04005. ME 04005
Visits: 20
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the
Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Service map data © OpenStreetMap contributors