CARIBOU - Lorraine Marie (Gervais) Reed, 83, beloved wife, mother and grandmother, died peacefully with her family at her side on August 12, 2023. Her passing occurred after a brief hospital stay at Cary Medical Center following a lifelong battle with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Lorraine was born in Madawaska, Maine to Saul and Anna (Sirois) Gervais on March 2, 1940. She was raised in St. David on the Cleveland Road. One of six children, Lorraine grew up working on her father’s potato farm often tagging along behind her older brother Roland. A 1958 graduate of Madawaska High School, Lorraine attended the University of Maine at Fort Kent and obtained her Bacholors in Education. Her first teaching positions were in 1960 at Caribou's new Hilltop School where she taught first and third grades. During her time at Hilltop, she met fellow teacher and future husband Dr. Reginald R. Reed. Rumor has it that she chased him down until he gave in to a first date. The two fell in love and enjoyed going out to dance and socializing. They married in 1963 and settled in Caribou. In 1967 Lorraine designed and the couple built their one and only home on the Access Highway. Lorraine went to great lengths to use her artistic talents to decorate their new home where they welcomed their daughters, Michelle in 1968 and Celeste in 1972. She ended her full time public school teaching as a third grade teacher at Sincock school. Once her girls were preschoolers, she decided to open a preschool in their home and operated it for several years. Lorraine loved sewing circle groups, cake decorating, creating seasonal wreaths and painting. Although she struggled with MS throughout her life and eventually had to stop full time teaching, she continued to substitute at local schools in Caribou and Connor. Her unwavering support allowed her husband to obtain both his Masters and Doctorate of Education while also raising their girls. Always a team, they recently celebrated 60 years of marriage.
Lorraine is survived by her husband, Dr. Reginald R. Reed, of Caribou, daughters Michelle Reed, and her husband Johnny Smith of Germantown, Maryland, and Celeste Reed Hanish, and her husband Brian Hanish of Hampden, Maine. Grandchildren, Morgan, Mackenzie and Ashley Smith of Germantown, and Isaac and Lydia Hanish of Hampden. She is also survived by a sister Hermance (Gervais) Michaud and her husband Philip Michaud of Cape Elizabeth, Maine formerly of St. Agatha and a brother, Richard Gervais of Madawaska, Maine. Lorraine was predeceased by her parents, Saul and Anna (Sirois) Gervais, brothers Roland and Roger Gervais, and a sister Rachel (Gervais) Roy.
The Reed family extends a special thanks to Cary Medical Center's Emergency Department and Intensive Care Unit as well as the EMS services of the Caribou Fire and Ambulance Department.
A private service will be held at the Maine Veterans Cemetery at a later date. Those who wish to contribute in Lorraine’s honor may do so through the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, P.O. Box 91891, Washington DC, 20090-1891 or nationalmssociety.org/Donate.
To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Lorraine M. Reed, please visit our flower store.
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