Susan G. (Ashton) York-Wilbur

Susan Gale Ashton was born on Thursday, April 5, 1934 in Norway, Maine the first child of Vincent H. Ashton and Thurley L.J. Tucker. She attended a one room school house on the shore of Lake Pennesseewasse and started working at the family store, Ashton Pharmacy, while still in grade school. Susan graduated from Norway High School and attended Colby College before transferring to and graduating from the University of Maine at Orono in 1956. During her junior year at UMO she married John W. York ,her high school sweetheart. In 1956 Susan gave birth to her first child, Jay, at the US Army infirmary in Aberdeen, Maryland. A favorite story was that within a few hours of giving birth she was handed a mop and told to police her area. Their second son, George was born a year later followed by their daughter Catherine two years after that.

Susan and John York moved to Kennebunk, Maine in 1957 where she became an active member of Christ Church and developed a lifelong friendship with the then minister Fred Holmberg.  She organized a multi denominational religious arts festival, OpenWide, which brought many prominent performing & visual artists to the area. While raising three children, Susan started teaching home economics at Kennebunk High School in 1971 as well as returning to school herself. In 1974 she received her Masters in Education and started working as a guidance counselor first at Bonney Eagle High School and then at Wells High School until retiring in 1994.

Susan was a skilled seamstress. She was taught to sew by her grandmother Ashton and continued to make clothes, costumes, quilts & bags her entire life. She loved nature, was an avid gardener, and relished her daily walks alone and with friends. Susan was an excellent cook and enjoyed hosting family gatherings around a meal. She especially enjoyed the large, Thanksgivings hosted at her son Jay’s. 

Skiing was a passion. She started as a child sidestepping up a hill next to her friend Valerie’s house in Norway so she and her friends could ski down. In 1960 her father told her about a little mountain in Greenwood that was switching from being used for logging to skiing…Mt. Abram. In 1964 three families from Kennebunk, the Holmbergs, Packards, and Yorks, commissioned the Kennebunk High School shop students to prefab a small chalet that would be assembled at Mt. Abram. For the next ten years Susan would drive a station wagon full of kids to Mt. Abram to ski weekends & winter vacations. Susan continued skiing at the mountain with her father “Vinnie” a ski instructor, her friends (especially Chummy Hamilton), and her son Jay also a ski instructor. When Susan turned 80 Mt. Abram presented her with a lifetime ski pass which she used up until and during the 2017-18 season.

Susan remarried in 1979 to John Wilbur. After her retirement from Wells High School and while living at her self designed dream home on Bufflehead Cove Road in Kennebunk Lower Village she and her husband traveled extensively all over the world. Susan was a lifelong dedicated volunteer. For many years Susan served on the board of Day One an organization for the prevention and treatment of youth substance use and mental health. She and John were both avid investors and she joined a women’s investment group in 1998 where she was an active member for 21 years. Upon the death of her husband in 2011 Susan moved to a small condo in Portland to be closer to her two sons and there cultivated new friendships, enjoying going to concerts & art exhibits.

Susan is predeceased by her brother Johnny Ashton, her first husband John York, her second husband John Wilbur, and her step-son Johnny Wilbur. She is survived by her three children Jay, George, and Catherine York and by her daughter-in-law Jessica; her two sisters Linda Richards and Sharon Poulin and their children and grandchildren; her nieces Carla, Alicia, and Alan along with their spouses and children and grandchildren. Also by step-daughter Jane Perlowski, husband John and son Joey; step-daughter Susie Collier and husband David; step-grandson Ben Wilbur and wife Katie along with sons Ronan and Quilan.

A celebration of Susan’s life will be held at 58 Wilmot Street, Portland in the Last Church on the Left on Sunday, October 27 at 1 PM.