Jane Hinckley Aldrich peacefully went home to be with the Lord on March 26, 2026 at Andwell Hospice House in Auburn, after a period of declining health. Born an only child of Regina and Oscar Aldrich on January 28, 1944, Jane grew up in Windham and entered Maine Medical Center School of Nursing after graduating from high school. She worked as a registered nurse at Maine Medical Center, National Medical Care, Mercy Hospital and New England Rehabilitation Hospital. She was intelligent, skilled, hardworking and compassionate, and well-loved by her patients, many of whom became her “family”. She even received a Citizenship Award from the Portland Fire/EMS Department for her quick action, performing CPR that helped save the life of a man who’d had a heart attack in his car while she was walking by on the street.

Jane became a member of First Baptist Church of Portland, and attended the original building located on Congress Street, but had to stop when her deafness (due to measles as a child) became too severe for her to hear the sermons and the hymns, even with hearing aids. In addition, it became frustrating for her to not be able to communicate with people at church, home and work. Although she never married or had children, she soon became a “mom” to her first Hearing Assistance Dog after narrowly escaping a fire due to her deafness. “Punch” was trained by Donald McMunn in Massachusetts, and was only the seventh Hearing Dog in the state of Maine in 1986. He was followed in 1996 by her second Hearing Dog, “Abbey”, and her final Hearing Dog in 2012 was “Shemp”, who was trained at NEADS in Princeton, Mass. In addition to being an invaluable element for hearing assistance in every facet of her life, these dogs were her constant companions, and she called them her “four-footed angels”.

During the last two years of her life, Jane lived at Bella Point in Freeport and then Dionne Commons in Brunswick. Jane is survived by no biological family, but she leaves behind dozens of people who loved her, including many dear friends, her beloved “CVS gals”, caregivers, medical providers, veterinarians, dog groomers and trainers, and the loving family at Loaves & Fishes thrift store. She had a special friendship with Valerie Dawson, from the time she trained Valerie at Mercy Hospital in 1984, until her last breath. We owe many thanks to those who loved her; all of you touched her heart in such a special way. We also want to thank the staff at Andwell Hospice House, who treated Jane with respect and kept her comfortable until the end. She will be greatly missed for her kind heart, sense of humor and deep faith, exemplified by the sign hanging on her wall that reads, “Jesus is all the world to me”.

A graveside service will be held sometime in the spring or early summer at Arlington Cemetery in North Windham. Burial arrangements will be under the care of Dolby, Blais & Segee, 434 River Rd, South Windham, Maine. If anyone wishes to make a donation in Jane’s memory, they can be made to an animal shelter of their choice, or to:

Andwell Hospice House

236 Stetson Road

Auburn, Maine 04210