ORRINGTON - Blanche Mae (Giffard) Campbell, 88, passed away November 15, 2015 at Westgate Manor in Bangor after a brief illness. She was born in Brewer November 11, 1927, the daughter of Rex Harleton Giffard and Geneva (Baker) Giffard Harriman.

Blanche graduated from Brewer High School, Class of 1945, then worked at Sears and Roebuck. Her high school sweetheart courted her by riding his bicycle from Brewer to Orrington for many months and on June 7, 1948, she married Edward L. Campbell. Earlier this year, they celebrated 67 years of marriage.

Residing in the same neighborhood on Baker Hill in Orrington most of her life, Blanche was completely involved as the family homemaker, selflessly sharing her seamstress skills with family and community. She was a Den Mother, a member of the Orrington PTA and made uniforms for her boys Little League teams. She also served as a second mother to the neighborhood children, overseeing lawn parties and baseball games and looking out the kitchen window to see other children playing in the sandbox even when her own children weren’t there.

Blanche and Eddie truly enjoyed dancing. As a member of the Orrington Barnyard Shufflers, they didn’t miss a Square or Round Dance and she made all her dresses and Ed’s shirts to match. An avid knitter, she made for her grandchildren sweaters, hats, scarves and mittens; and she enjoyed crocheting and gardening. Blanche loved being a grandmother and she and Ed followed their grandchildren’s activities from kindergarten to college. Blanche always cherished family the most.

In addition to her parents, Blanche was predeceased by her older sister, Beatrice “Bea” (Giffard) Hatfield, younger brother, Elmer “Sonny” Giffard of Orrington, her sister-in-law, Avis (Campbell) Flynn and brother-in-law, Robert “Bobby” Campbell. Surviving, in addition to her husband Eddie, are her son, Richard “Dick” Campbell of Orrington; son, Wayne Campbell and his wife, Tami of Hampden; daughter, Colleen (Campbell) Gross and her husband, Mike of Verona Island; her grandchildren, Chad Campbell and his wife Bekah, Colin Campbell Conor Campbell, Jillian (Campbell) Phillips and her husband Dave, Erin Campbell and fiancé Bobby Valle, Trevor Campbell and his wife Sara, Kevin Adams, Ashleigh Adams and Joe Bailey, Hunter Gross; great-grandchildren Emma Mae Bailey, Evan Bailey, Julian Campbell and Kalyx Campbell; her sisters-in-law, Charleen (Hanscom) Giffard, Corinne (Campbell) Gordon, Eleanor (Campbell) England and Tina (Foley) Campbell; many Giffard, Flynn, Gordon, England and Campbell nieces and nephews and their children and her special childhood friends, Charlotte Gray and Frances “Frannie” Lord.


Relatives and friends are welcome to visit Ed and the family 3-5:30p.m. Friday November 20, 2015 at the Brewer Chapel of Brookings-Smith, 55 South Main Street, Brewer. Funeral services will be held Sunday, November 22, 2015 at 1 p.m. at the East Orrington Congregational Church, 38 Johnson Mill Road, Orrington, with the Rev. Carl B. Schreiber, Jr. officiating. The family invites relatives and friends to share conversation and refreshments at a reception to follow in the church fellowship hall. Interment will be at the Marston Cemetery, Dow Road, Orrington immediately following the reception.

Those who wish to remember Blanche in a special way may make gifts in her memory to the East Orrington Congregational Church, 38 Johnson Mill Road, Orrington, Maine 04474. Condolences to the family also may be expressed at www.BrookingsSmith.com