Orean Dionne died on April 21, 2020 in Brunswick, Maine.
(The following was posted by Brackett Funeral Home on April 21, 2020)
Orean “MeMee” Dionne passed away peacefully at her home surrounded by her family on Tuesday, April 21, 2020, just twenty-six days after family and friends found unique and innovative ways to celebrate her 100th birthday in the midst of a pandemic.
Born in Berlin, NH, she was Orrin and Josie (Landry) Getchell’s only daughter in a family of four boys.
She attended school in a one room schoolhouse in Litchfield, Maine, and later in West Monroe, Louisiana.
Orean and Robert E. Dionne were married during World War II, on May 25, 1944, by Rev. William Dauphin, in a double-ring ceremony at St. John the Baptist Rectory. Bob and Orean moved to Church Road in 1946, where they raised their family and where Orean remained for 74 years.
Never a stranger to hard work, she was raised on a farm, and later worked in the office of the Pejepscot Paper Company and at the Jay Brush Corporation. The Dionnes opened Bob’s Lunch on Maine Street in Brunswick in 1954. When the Route 1 by-pass was constructed in 1960, the establishment moved to Cushing Street and renamed Bob and Orean’s Restaurant. Orean’s last employment was in Dining Services at Bowdoin College’s Moulton Union, retiring in May 1985.
Their “camp” on Sabattus Lake in Greene was truly her happy place, while also frequenting Ocean City, MD. Traveling the Maine roads, and visiting Texas, Lake Tahoe, Virginia and Florida were proven fun times for both Orean and Bob.
In addition to her parents, Orean is predeceased by her beloved husband Robert Dionne of fifty-six years, and her four brothers, Irving, Rodger, Ralph, and Everett Getchell. She is eternally loved and deeply missed by her four children: Carol Hall (Frank) of Burke, VA; DeDee Furbish of Boothbay, ME; Russell Dionne (Elizabeth) of West Bath, ME; Roger Dionne of West Bath, ME; seven grandchildren: Kelly Vogel (Chris) of Leesburg, VA; Sean Thompson (Jennifer) of Roswell, GA; Kimberly Curless (Peter) of Raymond, ME; Erin Thompson of Burke, VA; Justin Dionne (Cara) of Topsham, ME; Robin Dionne of Gorham, ME; Emily Dionne of Portland, ME; nine great-grandchildren: MacKenzie, Gabriella, Mason, Dalton, Ella, Reese, Cooper, Tanner and Fletcher; a brother and sister-in-law, Roland and Barbara Dionne of Annandale, VA; and several nieces and nephews.