Alice E. (McKinstry) Hawes, 88, passed away on April 7, 2022 at a Bangor Nursing Home. Alice lived a full life through her love of family, friends and community. Blessed with a soft smile and a gentle approach to life, she will be remembered for the many selfless ways in which she touched the lives of others.
Alice was born in Chicopee, Massachusetts on February 4, 1934, the daughter of Winthrop and Marion Watkins (Hunter) Mckinstry. She attended local schools, participated in Girl Scouts, 4-H, was President of the Pilgrim Fellowship of the First Congregational Church, and recipient of the Sons of the American Revolution award for excellence in U.S. History at Chicopee High School. In 1955 she graduated from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, majoring in elementary education. She then taught grades two and three in Amherst until 1958 when she married Robert Hawes. They were married in the First Congregational Church in Chicopee where Alice's great-great-grandfather, John McKinstry, had been the first minister of the parish, founded in 1751.
From 1958 they lived in State College, Pennsylvania, where Alice taught grade one and in 1962 the family moved to Montreal, Quebec where her husband taught at McGill University and they raised four sons. Alice worked as a parent volunteer in the public schools and as a church school teacher. They then lived for seven years in Johnston, Iowa where she was a parent volunteer in the local schools developing projects in historical interpretation for grades five and eight. The family moved to Hampden in 1978 where she has been active in church work, historical societies, the local D. A. R. She also worked as a special education/gifted and talented teacher during this time.
Alice served in SAD 22 as a parent volunteer for some years, becoming a teaching assistant at the Weatherbee School in Hampden in 1981. In 1987 she was appointed teacher of gifted and talented students at Weatherbee and at Smith School in Winterport. To prepare herself for this position, she entered graduate school at the University of Maine and in 1989 received her M. Ed. In recognition of her academic record, during the work on her Master’s degree, she was elected to the Honor’s Society of Phi Kappa Phi in 1990. Her activities during her time as gifted/talented teacher included assisting students with history projects, helping to organize and lead a History Club, serving as the coordinator for the School and Community Program under the “Maine at Statehood Program” sponsored by the Maine Humanities Council, examining primary documents of the community and transcribing them for the use of students in the program. At the time of her retirement in 1994, the 1993-94 edition of the Reeds Brook/Weatherbee Year Book was dedicated to Alice and as part of the narrative was this quote: “She brings to the students a freshness and quiet awe as she teaches.” A handwritten note on the fly leaf from one of her middle school students said, “It's been good to have you around, congrats.”
In 1984-85, Alice began research on a portrait of Reverend Stephen A. Loper, first settled minister at the Hampden Congregational Church. The portrait was by early regional artist, Jeremiah P. Hardy; her efforts resulted in the location of the missing portrait, verification of its authenticity and then, its restoration. The portrait is now on permanent loan to the Edith Dyer Library, while a copy hangs in the lower entry hall at the Congregational Church.
Following a nomination by the local Francis Dighton Williams Chapter, D.A.R. in 1988, Alice received the title “Outstanding Teacher of the Year in the Subject of American History for the State of Maine” awarded by the Maine State D.A.R. Group.
Over many years Alice served as the Historian for the Hampden Congregational Church, writing newsletter articles on the origin of the congregation and the history of the church building and its contents. On May 5th 2007 the church celebrated its 190th anniversary and Alice was honored by receiving the title “Historian Emerita.” She was also recognized by the Maine State 123rd Legislature at that time for her work at HCC.
As a longtime member of the Hampden Historical Society, she was involved with researching and recording town history. In 1994, Alice was instrumental in forging an association with the British John Hampden Society and for this effort was made an honorary member of that organization, an accolade of which she was very proud.
After her retirement in 1994, Alice began to research and inventory family material from her home in Massachusetts. This was indeed a labor of love, and the product of that effort was the publication in 2002 of a book entitled The McKinstrys of Chicopee – Eliza's Legacy covering genealogy and family history from 1718 until 1994. Previously, in 1977, following the untimely death of her father, she saw his unfinished book on historical aspects of Chicopee, through publication. This book, Glimpses of the Past, was presented to the Chicopee Historical Society in 1979.
Alice was predeceased by her parents and a special aunt, Grace Mckinstry. She is survived by her husband of 64 years, Robert, four sons and three daughters-in- law: Robert of Hampden; Joel and Betsy Frost-Hawes of Eliot; Steven and Belen Wieler of Amesbury, MA; Ethan and Kimberly Keegan of Amesbury, MA. She is also survived by eight grandchildren all surname Hawes: Ethan and fiancee, Sarah Carter; Nicholas and wife Kaeleigh Chartrand Hawes; Rachel; Jonathan; Aidan; Benjamin; Anna and Addison and one great granddaughter: Molly Jean Hawes. She is also survived by a brother, The Reverend John Mckinstry and his wife Anne Sargent of Great Barrington, MA and by two nieces, Laurel McKinstry Peterson and husband, Glenn, of Albany, New York and The Reverend Janet McKinstry and husband, Greg Schmolze of Great Barrington, Massachusetts, as well as several nieces, nephews and cousins.
The family would like to thank the nurses and staff workers at the Stillwater Health Care Nursing Home for their heartfelt care and kindness to Alice during the time that she was a resident. The family would also like to thank the nurses, social workers and volunteers of the Northern Light Home Health Hospice group for their kindness and many visitations, especially Pastor Dave and his guitar. The family appreciates the many cards and notes that arrived from the Hampden Historical Society, the Hampden Congregational Church’s bible study group, The Sorority of Delta Kappa
Gamma and the Francis Dighton Williams Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution.
A memorial service will be held at the Hampden Congregational Church, 101 Main Road North, Hampden, at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, April 16th. Following the service, there will be a gathering in the multipurpose room. A committal service will be held later in the summer for the family. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in Alice's memory to the Hampden Congregational Church, Box 9, Hampden, ME 04444 or to the Hampden Historical Society, Box 456, Hampden, ME 04444. Condolences to the family may be expressed at BrookingsSmith.com
To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Alice Hawes, please visit our flower store.
Alice was born in Chicopee, Massachusetts on February 4, 1934, the daughter of Winthrop and Marion Watkins (Hunter) Mckinstry. She attended local schools, participated in Girl Scouts, 4-H, was President of the Pilgrim Fellowship of the First Congregational Church, and recipient of the Sons of the American Revolution award for excellence in U.S. History at Chicopee High School. In 1955 she graduated from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, majoring in elementary education. She then taught grades two and three in Amherst until 1958 when she married Robert Hawes. They were married in the First Congregational Church in Chicopee where Alice's great-great-grandfather, John McKinstry, had been the first minister of the parish, founded in 1751.
From 1958 they lived in State College, Pennsylvania, where Alice taught grade one and in 1962 the family moved to Montreal, Quebec where her husband taught at McGill University and they raised four sons. Alice worked as a parent volunteer in the public schools and as a church school teacher. They then lived for seven years in Johnston, Iowa where she was a parent volunteer in the local schools developing projects in historical interpretation for grades five and eight. The family moved to Hampden in 1978 where she has been active in church work, historical societies, the local D. A. R. She also worked as a special education/gifted and talented teacher during this time.
Alice served in SAD 22 as a parent volunteer for some years, becoming a teaching assistant at the Weatherbee School in Hampden in 1981. In 1987 she was appointed teacher of gifted and talented students at Weatherbee and at Smith School in Winterport. To prepare herself for this position, she entered graduate school at the University of Maine and in 1989 received her M. Ed. In recognition of her academic record, during the work on her Master’s degree, she was elected to the Honor’s Society of Phi Kappa Phi in 1990. Her activities during her time as gifted/talented teacher included assisting students with history projects, helping to organize and lead a History Club, serving as the coordinator for the School and Community Program under the “Maine at Statehood Program” sponsored by the Maine Humanities Council, examining primary documents of the community and transcribing them for the use of students in the program. At the time of her retirement in 1994, the 1993-94 edition of the Reeds Brook/Weatherbee Year Book was dedicated to Alice and as part of the narrative was this quote: “She brings to the students a freshness and quiet awe as she teaches.” A handwritten note on the fly leaf from one of her middle school students said, “It's been good to have you around, congrats.”
In 1984-85, Alice began research on a portrait of Reverend Stephen A. Loper, first settled minister at the Hampden Congregational Church. The portrait was by early regional artist, Jeremiah P. Hardy; her efforts resulted in the location of the missing portrait, verification of its authenticity and then, its restoration. The portrait is now on permanent loan to the Edith Dyer Library, while a copy hangs in the lower entry hall at the Congregational Church.
Following a nomination by the local Francis Dighton Williams Chapter, D.A.R. in 1988, Alice received the title “Outstanding Teacher of the Year in the Subject of American History for the State of Maine” awarded by the Maine State D.A.R. Group.
Over many years Alice served as the Historian for the Hampden Congregational Church, writing newsletter articles on the origin of the congregation and the history of the church building and its contents. On May 5th 2007 the church celebrated its 190th anniversary and Alice was honored by receiving the title “Historian Emerita.” She was also recognized by the Maine State 123rd Legislature at that time for her work at HCC.
As a longtime member of the Hampden Historical Society, she was involved with researching and recording town history. In 1994, Alice was instrumental in forging an association with the British John Hampden Society and for this effort was made an honorary member of that organization, an accolade of which she was very proud.
After her retirement in 1994, Alice began to research and inventory family material from her home in Massachusetts. This was indeed a labor of love, and the product of that effort was the publication in 2002 of a book entitled The McKinstrys of Chicopee – Eliza's Legacy covering genealogy and family history from 1718 until 1994. Previously, in 1977, following the untimely death of her father, she saw his unfinished book on historical aspects of Chicopee, through publication. This book, Glimpses of the Past, was presented to the Chicopee Historical Society in 1979.
Alice was predeceased by her parents and a special aunt, Grace Mckinstry. She is survived by her husband of 64 years, Robert, four sons and three daughters-in- law: Robert of Hampden; Joel and Betsy Frost-Hawes of Eliot; Steven and Belen Wieler of Amesbury, MA; Ethan and Kimberly Keegan of Amesbury, MA. She is also survived by eight grandchildren all surname Hawes: Ethan and fiancee, Sarah Carter; Nicholas and wife Kaeleigh Chartrand Hawes; Rachel; Jonathan; Aidan; Benjamin; Anna and Addison and one great granddaughter: Molly Jean Hawes. She is also survived by a brother, The Reverend John Mckinstry and his wife Anne Sargent of Great Barrington, MA and by two nieces, Laurel McKinstry Peterson and husband, Glenn, of Albany, New York and The Reverend Janet McKinstry and husband, Greg Schmolze of Great Barrington, Massachusetts, as well as several nieces, nephews and cousins.
The family would like to thank the nurses and staff workers at the Stillwater Health Care Nursing Home for their heartfelt care and kindness to Alice during the time that she was a resident. The family would also like to thank the nurses, social workers and volunteers of the Northern Light Home Health Hospice group for their kindness and many visitations, especially Pastor Dave and his guitar. The family appreciates the many cards and notes that arrived from the Hampden Historical Society, the Hampden Congregational Church’s bible study group, The Sorority of Delta Kappa
Gamma and the Francis Dighton Williams Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution.
A memorial service will be held at the Hampden Congregational Church, 101 Main Road North, Hampden, at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, April 16th. Following the service, there will be a gathering in the multipurpose room. A committal service will be held later in the summer for the family. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in Alice's memory to the Hampden Congregational Church, Box 9, Hampden, ME 04444 or to the Hampden Historical Society, Box 456, Hampden, ME 04444. Condolences to the family may be expressed at BrookingsSmith.com
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