Velma D. Baston

Velma Diggery Baston was born on June 30, 1915 in Portland, the youngest child of Charles and Gertrude Diggery. She remembered as a young child being bounced on the knee of Governor Perceval Baxter, who had an office adjoining her father's. The family soon moved to Sanford, where her father opened Thayer-Diggery's clothing store. Sanford was to be home for the rest of her life.After graduating from Sanford High, she attended Bates College, following the path of her three older sisters. But Velma always marched to her own drum, so she soon left to study fashion design at the Chamberlain School in Boston, followed by work as a fashion stylist for Filenes in Boston.Before the war, she met Lawrence "Pop" Baston of North Berwick while she was waitressing at Forbes Restaurant in Wells Beach, and they were married in 1942. After Lawrence returned from the war, they built a house in South Sanford, had one child Doug, born in 1947. Lawrence went to work for the Maine Turnpike and Velma., like many young mothers of that era, worked part time around child care - candling eggs for Chadbourne's farm and sorting apples for Romac Orchards.When Lawrence died suddenly in 1971, Velma's free sprit emerged again, and she began traveling the world by ship. But in port, she would strike out alone from her fellow passengers to wander out from tourist areas and into the heart of the port cities to mix with the local population. On one such trip she found a small village in southern Portugal where she was to return and live for six months a year for twenty years, alternating it with her home on Country Club Road. She soon became fluent in Portuguese and became accepted in to the local community and developed many friendships. She became the first woman to go fishing on a local boat - a sharp break in tradition.When her health began to decline, she gave up her life in Portugal and moved first to Parkview and then Greenwood Center, where she was beloved by the staff for her sprit and quick wit and for regaling them with stories from her adventurous life. She died there on November 6th, receiving cards and notes from her friends in Portugal and cracking jokes with the staff to the end.Predeceasing Velma was her husband Lawrence, her parents, and sisters Gertrude and Dorothy.She is survived by her son Doug and his wife Barbara of Alna, ME, and grandsons Joshua of Portland, ME and Daniel of Kingston, Ontario, and her sister Miriam and her husband Harold of Kennebunk. A period of visitation for Velma will be held on Tuesday, November 7, 2006 from 5 to 7 PM at the Carll-Heald and Black Funeral Home, 580 Main St. Springvale, ME; where funeral services will be held on Wednesday the 8th at 11:00 AM. Committal services will follow at the Oakdale Cemetery in Sanford. The Rev. Elizabeth Keating officiating.For those that desire memorial contributions may be made in Velma's memory to the charity of one's choice.To leave a message of condolence please use the tab to the left. .