Nina Huntley

Baileyville - Nina Landry Huntley, age 97, of Baileyville, died August 4, 2015, at Machias.
The daughter of Ernest and Sarah (Cochran) Landry, she was born January 19, 1918 in the house that her father built in Baileyville;

She grew up in Baileyville and was the last surviving member of the Woodland High School Class of 1936. When Nina was a teenager, her father was killed in a accident at the old St. Croix Mill, leaving her mother a widow with six children to raise during the Great Depression. Finances were tight but Nina resolved she would have an education and be able to support herself if ever she should find herself in circumstances like those of her mother. She wanted to be a teacher but there was no money to send her to college. In 1937 Nina applied to and was accepted at the Calais Hospital School of Nursing, then under the leadership of Doctor Walter Miner, founder of the hospital, and Doctor Cobb. She lived in the nurses’ home next to the Old Calais Hospital on Church Street. Nursing students attended classes taught by the doctors, worked long hours within the hospital, cared for patients and assisted the medical staff.
While a student nurse, Nina’s mother give her twenty-five cents each week for spending money. She was one of four graduates of the Calais Hospital Class of 1939 and delivered the welcoming address at the graduation ceremony. After successfully passing her state nursing exams, she was certified as a Registered Nurse in the spring of 1940.

Nina moved to Lincoln, Maine, and was hired as a nurse at Workman Hospital. In Lincoln she met her future husband, Shepley Huntley, on a blind date. She bought her first car in Lincoln and she and Shepley drove to dance halls throughout the area and enjoyed dancing to live bands. In 1942, Shepley enlisted in the Army Air Force and was sent to Waycross, Georgia for Military Police training. Nina returned to Calais Hospital where she accepted the job of Operating Room Supervisor, a highlight of her nursing career. In that position she met Dr. Charles Best, co-discover of insulin. Dr. Best, born in West Pembroke, had accompanied his mother to the Calais Hospital for surgery and Nina was in charge of the operating room. Although she had an autograph book, she had too much respect for Dr. Best to ask for his autograph.

The next year she joined Shepley in Waycross, traveling alone by train from Calais to Georgia. A lifelong memory of her trip was through the Blue Ridge Mountains which she found very beautiful. She and Shepley were married in a military chapel on August 16, 1943. A male Army sergeant was her “Maid of Honor.”
Nina worked at the Wade County Hospital in Waycross. The doctors at Wade felt she had received an outstanding nursing education at Calais Hospital and assigned to her responsibilities not normally given to nurses.

After they were married, Nina and Shepley traveled by train to Baileyville to visit her family. When returning to Georgia, they missed their train connection in Boston. Shepley was under pressure to return to his base on schedule and couldn’t afford to wait a day for another train. He had no choice but to ride a troop train south. Not wanting to leave his bride to travel alone on a civilian train, he loaned her one of his military uniforms and sneaked her onto the troop train. She traveled to Georgia disguised as a male soldier.
When Shepley’s military unit was sent to Europe, Nina, pregnant with her first child, returned to live with her mother in Baileyville. Shepley served with the Military Police at 164th General Hospital near Paris and was preparing to be shipped to the Pacific Theater when the war ended.

After the war, Nina and Shepley first lived in Calais, but eventually settled in Baileyville about half a mile from where she was born.

Nina returned to nursing at Calais Hospital. She enjoyed working in obstetrics and helped deliver many babies who are now middle-aged citizens of Washington County. She later attended classes sponsored by the University of Maine and earned a Substitute Teacher Certificate. During the 70’s, she attained her lifelong dream of teaching, working as a substitute teacher in Baileyville. She also took a woodworking class and made a cabinet of which she was extremely proud.
Her belief in education was extended to her daughters. She and Shepley provided both their daughters with eductions and the means to support themselves.

Nina was a Communicant of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Baileyville where she was active in the Church Guild. She worked on many of the church committees and served as a Sunday School Teacher, Treasurer and Superintendent. She was also a Girl Scout Cadet Leader.

Nina and Shepley were avid Grangers, including Princeton Grange #293, Pomona Grange # 16, State and National Grange and the State Youth Committee. They held all offices including State Deputies. Nina was the first female Master of the Princeton Grange and the Pomona Grange. She had extensive files of programs she created as Lecturer. After Shepley’s death in 1982, she continued her involvement with the Grange into her 90s. At the Alexander Grange Hall, she and several friends often played cards for hours after the meetings. On one occasion a local police officer, seeing late night lights at the Grange Hall, stopped to check for possible mischief, only to find a small group of Grangers happily playing cards, quite unaware of the late hour.
Nina was an excellent seamstress and made most of her daughters' clothes when they were growing up. Early in their marriage, she and Shepley raised chickens. The chicken feed came in cloth sacks with print patterns, from which Nina made dresses for her oldest child. Nina also enjoyed knitting and embroidery. She frequently entered Grange sewing and knitting contests where she won numerous ribbons. Several pieces of her work, including a man’s suit she made for her husband, were forwarded to National Grange competitions.
Nina was preceded in death by Shepley, her parents, and five brothers: Earl, Vern, Wilfred, Leo and Emery Landry.

She is survived by two daughters, Diane Carter (William) of Aberdeen, Washington and Denise Marrs (Gary) of Calais; five grandchildren (Joshua and Lucas Reardon of Maine, Sabrina and Benjamin Carter of Washington and Reverend Mother Adrianna Carter Shaw of Georgia); five great grandchildren (Aidan, Ashton, Lucy, Ava and Ella); a sister-in-law, Barbara Landry of Baileyville; a special niece, Evarose Fairbrother of Calais; friend, Gregory Reardon; and several nieces and nephews.

Visiting hours will be held at Mays Funeral Home, 26 Church St., Calais, on Thursday, August 6, 2015, 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. A graveside service will be held 11 a.m. Friday, August 7, 2015 at Woodland Cemetery in Baileyville.

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