Barbara J. Valentine Ferrell

SCARBOROUGH – Barbara Valentine Jaeger Ferrell, 92, of Scarborough, died peacefully on Wednesday, October 6, 2010, at Gosnell Memorial Hospice House.

Barbara was born January 3, 1918 on Staten Island, New York, to Edward Valentine and Elsa Warth Jaeger. She grew up there and attended the Staten Island Academy. The family moved to Denville, New Jersey, when she was 14 years old. She attended Kent Place School in Summit, NJ and graduated from Smith College in Northampton, MA in 1940. She was employed by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. In 1944, she joined the American Red Cross as a staff assistant and was deployed in January 1945 to a Troop Carrier and then with an Aero Club in England. Subsequently, she went with the Red Cross to Chartres, France. When the war in Europe came to an end in May, 1945, she spent several months in Germany, returning to the states in November 1945.

She was married on May 11, 1946, to Captain Herbert Ross Ferrell, Staff Officer of the Pathfinder Group of IX Troop Carrier Command. They settled in Yarmouth, Maine, where Barbara remained after his death in 1978. Their first business, R. C. Nichols, was a mail order sporting goods and moccasin manufacturing company. In 1950 they built Down-East Village Motel and Restaurant in Yarmouth, Maine. It has been fun and successful for over 60 years, and is presently owned and operated by their son, Ed. and his wife, Sue. Along with her husband, Herbert Ferrell, she was a pioneer and leader in the motel and tourism industry in Maine. Their motel was the second opened in Maine and is presently the oldest operating in Maine. They were charter members of the Maine Innkeepers Association and the Maine Restaurant Association. In 1985, Barbara married Robert Riegler and they also resided in Yarmouth until his passing.

Barbara served her community in different and important ways. Throughout her life she was always involved in many volunteer activities. While working at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York City, she helped with patient care at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Hospital in NYC and also selling government war bonds in her NYC neighborhood. (How much we could have felt involved and helpful if selling war bonds had been introduced to the Iraq War.) Volunteerism was also a family thing. It started as Den Mother with the boys, followed by Girl Scout Leadership. When the new resident conductor of the Portland Symphony Orchestra (PSO) arrived, Barbara volunteered to be part of the extensive new volunteer support to the PSO. With a term on the Women's Committee and also involvement in many PSO projects, she thoroughly enjoyed herself and had a sense of contributing to the ongoing growth and support of the PSO. (Volunteerism has been a huge factor in the PSO success.) She also served on the Board and Executive Committee of the Portland Junior League. She was active for many years in the 80's and 90's with First Parish Church UCC in Yarmouth, serving on the Boards of Deacons, Trustees, Stewardship and as a member of the Church Council. She also served as the Vice President of the Yarmouth Historical Society.

One cannot forget her sense of adventure and love of the outdoors. Growing up in a family who enjoyed fishing and hunting, and then spending summers in Maine at a girls' camp, she was well prepared for the adventures toward the end of World War II in Europe. Barbara and her best friend in Europe (Helen Ormiston) had a new assignment through the Red Cross. They were to report to Wiesbaden, Germany. Helen and Barbara drove across war torn France and Germany in a jeep, with little or no direction, maps and certainly no GPS. She was a courageous and enthusiastic adventurer. She took up skiing with her children when she was 40 years old. Her favorite spot for the last 40 years was her home in Newry, Maine. Yet her adventures did not stop there.

Through her later years, she loved to travel with family and friends to places of beauty and history here and around the world, including a trip down the Rhine which she took at the age of 88 years with her son, Ross.

Throughout life, Barbara was keenly connected to her children and their families. She always wanted the best for her kids. Barbara said that as she looks back on a long life, it is really one's children, how they grow up and develop their lives, and their successes as parents that bring the most meaning.

She is survived by two sons; Ross and his wife Joan of Bangor, and Ed. and his wife Sue of Yarmouth, one daughter; Ginnie Ferrell and her husband Jack Raymer of Atlanta, GA.

her brother; Hank Jaeger of Rhinebeck, NY, five grandchildren; Jeffrey and his wife Sylvia of Bucksport and their children, Hannah and Aliyah, Matthew and his wife, Deb of St. Cloud, MN, CJ and his wife, Kate of Yarmouth and London (England), Jay and his wife, Angie and their son, Caleb, of Yarmouth, Ryan of Yarmouth, two stepdaughters; Cathy Riegler Van Hof and Betsy Riegler Reiney and their families all of FL and many nieces and nephews.

Visiting hours will be Tuesday, October 12, 2010 from 4 - 7 p.m. at the Lindquist Funeral Home, One Mayberry Lane, Yarmouth.

A funeral to celebrate Barbara's long and full life will be held Wednesday 11a.m. at First Parish Congregational Church United Church of Christ , 116 Main St., Yarmouth with the Rev. Kent Allen officiating.

Please visit www.lindquistfuneralhome.com for additional information and to sign Barbara's guest book.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to:

Yarmouth Historical Society 


P.O. Box 107, Yarmouth, ME 04096

or

First Parish Congregational Church
United Church of Christ

116 Main St. Yarmouth, Maine 04096