Bar Mills Mary Straw Elwell, died peacefully, on March 28, after an extended stay at Springbrook nursing home. She was born in Portland on July 11, 1920, the daughter of Louise and Harold Chase. In her earliest years she lived in the Munjoy Hill area of Portland. She grew up in Scarborough, the eldest of nine children. Because of her fierce love for Maine and the four seasons it offered she rarely ventured beyond its borders. She devoted most of her time to home making, gardening eventually working outside the home for seasonal residents in Prouts Neck, Scarborough caring for their beach homes. They very much appreciated her dedication to their homes, cooking, cleaning, running errands, or just keeping them company. She made many longtime friends in this endeavor, from New York to Florida. Late in life she studied art, painting in acrylic and then water color, winning a statewide amateur contest with her very first painting. She was a member of the Buxton Garden Club and the Buxton Red Hatters. Her husband died of a fatal heart attack in 1957 leaving Mary with a young family to raise and a farm to run. In 1974 Mary married Lloyd Elwell of Westbrook. Mary married George Oakley Straw of Gorham on January 1, 1939. She leaves behind their four children, Patrica Gallagher and her husband Robert of Salem, SC, and Dade City, FL, Joan Wadas and her husband John of Gorham, Elaine Brown and her husband Richard of Standish, and Lee Straw of New Castle; sisters, Ellen Sanford, Jane Moses, and Joan Deering; brother, Benjamin Chase; 13 grandchildren, 20 great grandchildren, and 5 great great grandchildren. In addition to her parents and two husbands Mary was predeceased by her sisters, Ruth Leighton, Phyllis Skillings, and Florence Kirchner; and brother, Harold Chase. An hour of visitation will be held from 9:00AM – 10:00AM followed by a funeral service at 10:00AM, Monday April 2, at the Westbrook Chapel of Dolby, Blais & Segee 35 Church Street, Westbrook. Burial will follow at Brooklawn Memorial Park, 2002 Congress Street, Portland. To express a condolence or to participate in Mary's online tribute please visit www.DolbyBlaisSegee.com