Patricia Ann Vampatella

Patricia Ann Vampatella of New Gloucester passed away on February 21, 2026, due to complications from emergency surgery. To tell her story is to tell the story of a woman whose life was spent devoted to family, friends, and her community.

Born in New York on March 18, 1943, she was the third of four daughters to Arthur and Cecilia Weth. She graduated from Seton Hall High School in 1960 and one year later graduated from the Caledonian Hospital School of Practical Nursing. She met her future husband, Phil Vampatella, in San Diego, California, when Phil was stationed at Miramar Naval Base. Their first date was postponed when Phil, a Navy fighter pilot, suffered a broken back from ejecting from his aircraft during a training mission. Nonetheless, they fell in love and after a short courtship married on June 26, 1965.

Four children later, she graduated from SUNY Farmingdale with an A.A.S. in Nursing and began a Bachelor’s program at Molloy College. Three years into her program, she and her husband Phil, now an airline pilot with Pan Am, moved from Long Island to New Gloucester in December 1974 and almost immediately Pat began to make an impact in town. In 1975, after completing her fourth year by mail, she received her B.S. in Nursing from Molloy College, and in 1976 she pioneered the New Gloucester town volunteer rescue service, serving as Captain for ten years. Over the course of her life, she sat on numerous town committees and boards, including acting as Chair of SeniorsPlus.

Ever committed to learning and growing in her field and as a person, she pursued her graduate degree while raising four children. She commuted back and forth to Boston on a regular basis, and in 1982, with two children at Gray-New Gloucester high school, one in junior high, and one in elementary school, she earned her Master’s in Nursing Administration, a remarkable effort as she juggled motherhood, nursing, and her graduate studies. That was not the end of her schooling, however, and eighteen years later, in 2000, now a grandmother to six, she received her Doctor of Education degree (EdD) in Educational Leadership from the University of Maine, a demonstration of the determination that marked her entire life. Her own education continued through the end of her life, as she participated in and later served on the board of the Lewiston-Auburn Senior College.

The first half of her professional career was spent as an RN and the latter half as a nursing educator, as Vice President of Central Maine Community College and, later, Vice President of Academic Affairs of Quincy College in Quincy, MA. She maintained her nursing license until the day she passed. In 2023, she received recognition as a UnitedHealthcare champion for her contribution to health care.

As a wife and mother, she encouraged her husband and children to pursue their friendships and life goals. Pat was a second mom to many of her kids’ friends, and her home was always open for dinner to anyone who showed up, which happened often. She was committed to helping her children get their own college education and even helped their friends in the college process. One of her children’s friends remarked that he would not have gotten into college “if it wasn’t for Mrs. Vamp staying on top of me to get my applications done.” Her love for her children and their friends showed itself in many ways.

She was also a gardener who loved flowers, and an avid reader of a myriad of genres of literature. Her mother Cecilia Weth was an immigrant to the U.S., and it was always Pat’s dream to visit her mother’s home in Ireland, which she finally was able to do in 1999, spending St. Patrick’s Day in Dublin. She spent many years researching her family’s genealogy and has left the gift of her family’s ancestry to her descendants.

She is predeceased by her parents and oldest sister Eileen Cormier, and is survived by her husband of sixty years, Phil, her children and their spouses, Judy Leach (Andy Leach), Joan Vampatella, John Vampatella (Diane Vampatella), and Jean Poulin (Bill Poulin), their thirteen grandchildren (in order of birth: Steven Vampatella, Alex Harvey, Justin Vampatella (married to Lydia Vampatella), Nate Leach, Jack Leach, Abigail Vampatella, Rachel Harvey, Julia Vampatella, David Poulin, Megan Leach, Daniel Poulin, and Morgan Poulin), and two of her sisters (Cathy Duggan and Barbara Hall).

A Visitation will be held on Saturday, February 28, from 12PM-3PM at The Fortin & Pinette Group Funeral Home, 305 Alfred A Plourde Parkway, Lewiston, followed by a Memorial Service to honor this remarkable woman and her life that positively impacted so many others. In lieu of flowers, we invite you to give to BLING (Building Livability in New Gloucester), a volunteer group Pat helped start to support New Gloucester seniors, at this website: https://www.blingnewgloucester.org/