This is the first in what we hope will become a continuing series of biographical sketches of people who were important to the history of northern Maine and who are still important as ancestors of folks who still live, work and play there.

“Lady of the Allagash”  

A Tribute by Shirlee Connors-Carlson

This tribute is made in honor of Pearl McBreairty Gardner of Allagash and Bangor , Maine . She is honored here as the mother of a family that included fourteen children, ten of which were sons.  

Her great contribution to her country came in the form of seeing all of her sons serve in the Armed Forces, which included the Army and the navy, in both WW11 and the Korean War. Her sons were Lee Herman, John Gordon, Dwight Gene, Warren Glen, Roy McClaren, Rodney James, Lewellen Wayne, Bryden Merle, Thomas Murry, and William Conrad. Lewellen was her seventh son and she would often quote the Bible, where it said it was a special blessing to be a seventh son. Her sons all came home.  

John Gordon was one of her sons in combat and received a bullet and put his hand in his jacket, felt something warm, believing it to be blood. It turned out to be peach juice, an item in his meal pack.  

There were four daughters interspersed among the boys, they were Sara Jane, Lucinda Mae, Phyllis Rose and Linda Lorraine.  

Being a dignified but humble woman of her time, she never talked of sacrifice, only privilege that her boys went to serve our Country.  

Sarah Jane and Lucinda Mae, were named after the two of the Diamond sisters, who were the first women to settle in the Allagash Region.  

There’s more I could write about this great unsung Hero of my lifetime. I was there. I saw, I benefited and I was nurtured by this woman. A woman I was fortunate enough to have as my Aunt. This was a lady who never complained about the hardships of long cold winters. One who warmed the blankets at night and carried them upstairs to tuck around her children so they would be warm in their beds. Beds that had to have clean sheets every Monday no matter how freezing it was to hang those sheets outside. A woman who made ski pants and jackets from adult winter clothing that was cast off. Knitting until long into the night so that the children would have mittens and woolen caps on their walk to school Pearl mcBreairty Gardner was of pioneering spirit and would overcome whatever obstacle happened from day to day.  

In those long days of summer, she would be picking berries and wild apples for the winters jams and jellies. She, along with my mother, would slice apples, take a needle and thread and string the apples on a twine weight line and hang them in the attic. This was the supply for apple pies in winter. There was always hot cereal in the morning with hot biscuits and molasses to send the kids to school with a full tummy, as she would say it.

I could go on and on about this person, who scooped her brood up and moved to Bangor when the older boys had left home. Here, she again worked her magic. She went to work at Bangor State Hospital and worked there for 25 years. She was a great caretaker in her tenure as a practical nurse and was greatly loved by patients and staff. Her human touch was evident to all who came in contact with her.  

At the end of her life, she quietly told her children, " it's time now for me to go." She quietly slipped away with her multitude of children by her side. She will be remembered by her quiet and graceful manner in her home, always clean, neat and orderly. Always a jar of cookies, biscuits and the tea pot was always ready for guests that happened by in the afternoon or evening.