McKay, Pauline “Polly” Grant, 91, April 23, 2015. A memorial service will be held this summer in Houlton. Arrangements by Conroy-Tully Crawford Funeral Home, Portland.
Pauline “Polly” McKay (91) died on April 23, 2015 at Piper Shores in Scarborough, Maine where she had been a resident for 14 years.
Polly was born in Houlton, Maine, on March 31, 1924, the first child of Aubrey and Thelma Grant. Polly graduated from Houlton High School in 1942 and attended Ricker College, before enlisting in the Navy in 1944. She served as a Wave in Washington, D.C. for two years before returning to Houlton, where she worked for the town’s Recreation Department.
Polly married Joseph H. McKay on July 8, 1949, and became a full time homemaker and mother. She enjoyed knitting, needlework, golf and being at her camp on Nickerson Lake. Polly invested her life in being a wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother, family member, friend and neighbor.
Following her husband’s retirement they moved to Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, where they spent 25 years, returning every summer to their camp on Nickerson Lake. She moved back to Maine in 2001.
Polly’s husband, Joe, died in 2007. She is survived by her three children and their families: Rev. Dr. M. Bruce McKay, his wife, Phoebe, and their sons, Luke and Micah; Martha McKay Novis, her husband, Dr. David Novis, and their children, Joshua Novis, his wife, Annie, Emily Graeper, her husband, Chip, and Rebecca Novis; Jane McKay Morrell, her husband, William and their children, Lucy and Peter. Polly has five great-grandchildren. She is also survived by her sister, Geraldine Bell, her husband, Leighton, and her sister-in-law, Francis Grant, the wife of the late Aubrey Grant, Jr., Polly’s brother; along with a niece, four nephews, and many other family members and friends who loved her.
Polly’s family would like to extend their deep appreciation and gratitude to the staff at Piper Shores who cared
for her with great competence and compassion. Arrangements are under the direction of Conroy-Tully Crawford Funeral Home, 172 State Street, Portland, ME. Online condolences may be expressed at www.ctcrawford.com
Donations in Polly’s memory may be made to Nickerson Lake Wilderness Preservation, Inc., 2 Kelleran St. Suite 2, Houlton, ME 04730.
A memorial service will be held this summer in Houlton.
