Mrs. Clara Gladys Ballard Brown and Mendell

Windham---Clara Ballard Brown Mendell, 100, of Windham, formerly of Hallowell and Portland, passed away at the Scarborough Gosnell Memorial Hospice House with family members by her side. Mom was born at the Hallowell family farm on September 22, 1921. She was the youngest of four children and only daughter of George and Alice Ballard.

Growing up on a farm, Mom’s early childhood included pet dogs, cats, her horse, Bessie Keo, helping her mom with household chores, and attending the Congregational Church. She reminisced fondly of the Stevens School girls and a special Uncle Bert who helped her parents maintain the farm. Mom learned from her mom how to give remarkable taste to food which we nine children appreciated as we grew up. A post near the street was labeled with a special ‘hobo marking’ identifying the Ballard house as one that would provide them a meal. Mom’s strong work ethic was developed mostly through her mom. She often spoke highly of both parents, and it was evident that she had a deep love and devotion for each of them.

Sadly in junior high school Mom’s “very much adored mother by all” was diagnosed with a terminal disease, and Mom spent much of her time helping care for her before she passed a few years later. Mom graduated from Hallowell High School where she was active in public speaking and the annual variety show. While still in high school, Clara met and began dating Fred Brown.

After graduation, Mom did clerical work for a few years, but moved to Wilmington, North Carolina, after marrying Fred who had become a WWII Army enlistee.

After the war our parents moved back to the Augusta area with their newborn son Fred, Jr. and they started to raise a family of nine children. Due to poor health Dad passed away at a young age, leaving Mom to raise the children on her own. Needless to say, times could be tough for her. But, the one thing she and we had was each other. In 1966 with the three oldest on their own – one in the Navy, one in nursing, and one in college, Mom moved the youngest six children to Portland.

Whether in the Augusta or Portland areas, Mom worked in a variety of jobs: hostessing, clerking as a Maine legislature secretary, a Mercy’s School of Nursing house mother, and a unit secretary at Mercy Hospital. However, her most important job involved the raising of her nine children.

Mom enjoyed the times she was able to bring her children and grandchildren to beaches and lakes in the summer months. With the help of her son Tim, gardens were maintained at her homes. She had a special love of flowers, enjoyed the many garden colors and scents, and loved putting bouquets together for inside her home. Last she loved animals and always had to have a dog and a cat.

Mom was extremely proud of her children and grandchildren. Family gatherings often revolved around kids’ birthdays and the holidays in keeping with her focus on children. The family was known for their love and respect for one another. The love, compassion, kindness, and strength shown by Mom is evident in each descendant.

After a twenty year friendship, Mom married Carleton Mendell, a retired U.S. Air Force reservist and part time insurance agent who some will remember as an accomplished long-distance runner. Well known in the Maine running community, he held many national records based upon age group. Carleton passed away in 2012.

Mom was predeceased by her beloved daughter and son, Diane Reynolds and Mark Brown; her father and mother, George and Alice Ballard; her husbands Fred Brown and Carleton Mendell; and three brothers and their wives: Milton and Charlena, Robert and Helen, and Richard and Charlotte.

Mom is survived by her children Fred and Sylvia Brown, Timothy Brown, Suzanne and Robert Dube, Dennis and Karen Brown, Debra and John Surran, Jeffrey and Margaret Brown, Kimberly and Nathan Dennis, son-in-law Craig Reynolds, daughter-in-law Marsha Brown, sixteen grandchildren, 30 great grandchildren, and one great-great grandchild.

The family would like to extend its heartfelt gratitude to Tim and Sue who assumed the primary care of Mom in her later years. Her long life in part reflects their excellent care of and devotion to her.

Funeral services will be held on March 25, 2022 at Jones, Rich & Barnes Funeral Home, 199 Woodford St., Portland, ME. Visiting hours will be from 9-11 a.m. with the service to begin at 11:00 a.m.

As Mom requested, a private internment ceremony will be in late spring at the Hallowell Cemetery beside her parents.

Because floral decisions have been preplanned, the family requests that donations in Clara’s name be made to the Alzheimer’s Association in lieu of flowers.

Please visit www.jonesrichandbarnes.com to view Clara’s tribute page and to sign her online guestbook.

Clara Ballard Brown Mendell

1921- 2022

Clara Ballard Brown Mendell, 100, passed away peacefully on March 15, 2022 surrounded by her large loving family. The matriarch of the Brown family maintained a high degree of stability over the home and family for over 76 years with nine children to manage and control. Clara’s home was full of love, compassion, and discipline. Constructive criticism was swift and poignant as her point was made with a fair amount of diplomacy.

Clara was born on September 22, 1921, on the family farm on outer Winthrop Street in Hallowell. She was the daughter of George Irving and Alice (Wing) Ballard. Our mother grew up in a rigorous agrarian environment. She was brought up in a household that was based on producing crops and raising animals. Just as soon as her feet hit the floor in the morning, there were responsibilities to be accomplished. The household was always busy with a variety of chores maintained by both her mother and father. Clara loved them immensely and appreciated the strong work ethic learned from both of them. She passed this on to her children.

Clara was a graduate of Hallowell High School in 1940. She participated in a variety of activities which included public speaking, cheerleading, and the Hokey Pokey Fair. After she graduated, she immediately went to work at the Hazzard Shoe office in Augusta. Throughout her long life she held a variety of jobs throughout the Augusta and Portland areas and eventually retired from Mercy Hospital in Portland when she was in her seventies.

Mother was extremely proud of her children and especially her grandchildren. When family gatherings occurred, which was usually twice a year, the family gravitated around Clara who was thrilled to see each and every one. The family was known for their love and respect for one another. Their successes were noted but haughtiness did not occur. The love, compassion, kindness, and strength shown by Clara is evident in each and every one of her children and grandchildren.

Clara was a descendant of Martha Moore Ballard who produced a diary that recorded her arduous work with thousands of entries for over three decades which provided historians with invaluable insight into frontier women’s lives. She traveled around the wilderness in a canoe and delivered babies and healed the sick. Clara’s father was a direct descendant.

Clara was predeceased by a beloved son, Mark Edward Brown in 2012, and daughter, Diane Muriel Reynolds in 2017. Clara missed them immensely. She was also predeceased by her parents, George and Alice Ballard; three brothers and their wives, Robert W. and Helen Ballard, Milton W. and Charlena Ballard, Richard I. and Charlotte Ballard; her husband, Frederick P. Brown Sr. whom she married during WWII on January 6, 1942, in Dorchester, MA at the home of Esty and Mildred Polit. Fred Sr. passed away in 1968 at the VA Hospital at Togus. Her second husband, Carleton Mendell, a well-documented marathon runner passed way December 25, 2012.

Clara leaves behind Mark’s beloved wife, Marsha Brown and Diane’s husband, Craig Reynolds. Surviving children are sons Fred P. Brown and wife Sylvia of Augusta, Timothy Brown of Windham, Dennis Brown and wife Karen of Portland, Jeffrey Brown and wife Margaret of Portland; daughters Suzanne Dube and husband Robert of Windham, Debra Surran and husband John of Saco, Kimberly Denis and husband Nate of Kennebunk; plus many grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great children.

The family would like to extend their sincere appreciation to Tim Brown and Sue Dube for their love and extensive compassionate 24-hour care of Clara.

The funeral will be held on March 25, at Jones, Rich and Barnes Funeral Home, 199 Woodford Street, Portland, ME. Visiting hours will be 9-11 a.m. with the service to follow at 11 a.m.

Read at Nana's funeral by Garrett for his wife Courney and brother-in-law Ryan

Our earliest memories with nana started on Maine Avenue in Portland where we spent many afternoons while our parents worked. We would spend the majority of the time playing with Todd and Adam outside either in Nana's well manicured backyard, thanks to Uncle Tim, or in the field across the street. Nana always had her candy dish stocked with either those pink mint chew candies or the hard strawberry kind.

We spent the majority of the summer either at Scarborough Beach or Sebago Lake State Park. Nana loved lying in her beach chair basking in the sun. We don't remember going to either place where Nana didn't have a "Brown panic moment! This would happen when she couldn't see one of us kids in her immediate sight. She'd jump up out of her beach chair frantically looking and yelling, Where's Adam? Where's Todd? Where's Ryan? and a few years later, "Where's Alex?" Usually this missing kid was right behind her chair.

Nana would surprise us with the random things she would remember later in life. Somehow, she always remembered that Alex called Courtney "Tortney" when he was probably three years old. She enjoyed that nickname so much she'd call her Tortney well into her later years and accompany it with her signature giggle.

The older Nana got the more she joined our parents on outings to places like the Eastern Prom. She'd always marvel at how beautiful it was there. Her love of the sun and being outside when it was nice out was passed onto us, particularly Courtney.

Amazingly, Nana trusted our mom to drive her around. She'd even get defensive if we expressed fear from the back seat when our mom was turning on to the off ramp instead of the on ramp. She'd tell us our mom was an excellent driver and we shouldn't criticize her. Then the two of them would laugh the rest of the way home while we sat white knuckled in the back seat. Once back home my dad would offer Nana a glass of wine to which she'd always reply, "Just a little bit, Bob. Not too much." No matter what my dad said Nana would giggle like he was the funniest person in the world.

Nana loved babies. She seemed happiest as long as there was a baby to smile at or to hold. And I'm glad she got to dote on mine however brief it was.

We all miss you Nana, and we all can only hope to be as strong and as much a fighter as you were.

Written and read by Stacy Sallinen

My name is Stacy Sallinen. I'm one of Nana's granddaughters and the oldest daughter of her first born son Fred/

Nana lived a remarkable life - 100 years, 9 children, 30 grandchildren, and one great grandchild.

My childhood was filled with many fun, memorable moments with Nana, including Fourth of July gatherings at her house on Maine Avenue in Portland; visits from Santa at Christmas Eve gatherings, and countless birthday and milestone celebrations. When I think back to this time period, I recall her loving and nurturing ways, especially during the days when we stayed with her at her home in Portland while my mom was in her final days.

My memories don't stop there. In April 2000, she attended my wedding and embraced Tom Like her own. Later that year, word had traveled to her that Tom and I had put up a fourteen foot Christmas tree at our first home in Dover, NH, Nana traveled to see our tree with several strands of lights and very few ornaments. She was thrilled for us.

I am very blessed that my own children were able to know Nana, or Great Nana, as they called her. Nana drove to Mercy Hospital to visit each of my children when they were born - Tommy in 2003, Matt in 2006, and Nick in 2008. She was present at each of their baptisms, many of their birthday celebrations, and at holiday gatherings. The countless photos that I have of Nana snuggling my own children as babies and visits throughout the years are now precious memories.

A few years ago, Uncle Tim brought Nana to our camp on Long Lake in Harrison. Tom and boys helped maneuver Nana, in her wheelchair, down the driveway. We positioned her on our screened-in porch overlooking the water. She enjoyed the westerly sunshine and laughter from her family. She had a content look on her face, and told me several times how lovely it was to be there. I am grateful for this memory.

Nana will be missed, but left us with a remarkable legacy.