Mariam Meehan Obituary (2010)

HALLOWELL - At 8:55 p.m. on July 26, 2010, at the Hospice House of Androscoggin Home Care and Hospice in Auburn, Marian Meehan passed into the arms of a loving God. Marian was born on a small farm south of Reger, Mo., on Dec. 22, 1917, the daughter of William Romulus and Verne Irene (Dewitt) Van Fossen. She grew up in the Reger, Humphries, Green Valley area of north central Missouri on working farms, walking the three miles to and from school with her brother and sister as they did then. The Great Depression took its toll when they lost their farm but they worked through it as thousands of other families did. The impact of survival in the Depression made a mark on her that lasted throughout her lifetime. She graduated from Humphreys High School in 1935 and attended Northeast Missouri State Teachers College. Back then, they would alternate going to school and teaching, which she did for seven years in the Green Valley and Warren schools. However, while she was going to school, she met a handsome young medical student at the Kirksville College of Osteopathy and surgery who did work at the boarding house where she stayed. He graduated and was drafted into the Army. She married Dr. Robert J. Meehan at Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis, Mo., on March 7, 1943. Upon his return from Burma (World War II), they moved to Salem, Mass., where he interned at Boston Osteopathic Hospital and she had their only child, William. When he finished his internship, they moved to Rockland where he practiced for more than 40 years and she ran a household for an old-fashioned doctor with a black bag in the days when they still did house calls, and you got called at any hour of the day or night. She found time for PTA; she belonged to the Lady Knox Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution; was a member of the Rockland Emblem Club; was a member of Veterans of Foreign Wars Ladies Auxiliary 2499; a member of the Women's Auxiliary to the Maine Osteopathic Association., and, oh yes, she was a caring Mother. When her husband retired to work at the adjudication division at the Veterans Affairs Hospital in Togus, they moved to Windsor. Marian followed suit by volunteering many hours at the hospital, for which she was recognized several times. In 1994, she was involved in an auto accident which resulted in cortical dementia, which sent her world in a different direction. Then her beloved Robert passed away on May 7, 1998. She was predeceased by her parents; her brother CJ Van Fossen, formerly of Missoula, Mont.; and her husband Robert. She is survived by her sister, Christine Houston of Milan, Mo.; a son, William Meehan and his wife, Linda, of Hallowell; three grandchildren, Nicole (Meehan) Williams and her husband, Mark, of Merrimack, N.H., Robert Meehan and his wife, Rachel, of Hallowell, and Thomas Meehan of Portland; three great-grandchildren, Ryan and Connor Williams of Merrimack, N.H., and Logan Meehan of Hallowell; several nieces, nephews, cousins, and in-laws; and her two special caregivers, Shirley and Herb Carmichael. A celebration of Marian's life will take place at 3 p.m. on Aug. 3 at Knowlton and Hewins Funeral Home at 1 Church St., Augusta. There will be no visiting or graveside committal service.