Obituary
view guestbook | sign guestbook

Ernestine Madora Tupper

Date of Death: November 26, 2010

Date of Birth: April 29, 1937

Biography:

OBITUARY

 

Ernestine Madora Tupper, age 73, passed on to her   heavenly home from Parkview Memorial Hospital in Brunswick, Maine, Friday, November 26, 2010, after a year long fight with cancer.

She was born in Durham, Maine, April 29, 1937, oldest daughter of Earnest Heed and Christine McKay Tupper.  She attended Crosman Corner School in Durham, Maine.  Her father was an Army Lt. Colonel, and the family traveled widely, living in Germany, Panama, and various other duty stations around the world.  In 1950 she married Norman Garner in Texas.  They were married for 20 years. They have two daughters, Christine Bender of Sevierville, Tennessee and Carrie Zweig of Tucson, Arizona.  She was also married to Richard Gleason of Kingman, Arizona for 14 years.

Ernestine attended college in Texas, earned her BA degree, and then went on to get her MA in Arizona where she taught elementary school in Nogales, Arizona.  She also taught home economics in high school in Guam for two years.

The family loved to travel and purchased a single engine Piper Cub airplane lovingly called “Chicken” because of its yellow color.  They flew to vacation spots, landed on the beach and camped out.  Ernestine became an accomplished pilot and logged hundreds of hours of flying time, visiting family or going on family camping trips.  She loved cooking, riding horseback, and antiquing.

For a time she worked for the Park Service and loved walking through nature in her state uniform of shorts and wide brimmed hat!  Her heart belonged to the open spaces and un-ending skies of Arizona.

She was always community minded and became a docent at an Indian Mission in Arizona, providing historical and cultural background for visitors from all over the world. 

Ernestine loved the Bible and spent many hours reading and studying the Scriptures.  When she was 54 she decided to attend Fairwood Bible Institute in Dublin, New Hampshire where she learned to love “her Lord” with all her heart.  She exhibited that love through her community service as a volunteer at Parkview Hospital from April 2008 to the present, and served several other human service outreach organizations as well through the years.  She was a member of the Kingdom Christian Ministries in Dublin, NH.

 Ernestine is survived by her daughter Christine Bender of Sevierville, Tennessee, daughter Carrie Zweig and son-in-law Fred Zweig of Tucson, Arizona, sister Patricia Lindquist of Apopka, Florida, brother Howard of Stuart, Florida, four grandchildren, Paul Bender, Leandra Bender, Cassandra Malia Zweig, and Robert (Emilio) Zweig, great granddaughter Ella Bender, niece Kimberly Stewart Oxentenko of Apopka, Florida, and nephew Michael Robert Stewart, Camp Springs, Maryland.

A Memorial Service will be held at 1:00 PM, Thursday, December 2, 2010, at the 7th Day Adventist Church, 333 Maine St., Brunswick, Maine.  In lieu of flowers donations in memory of Ernestine Tupper may be made to the 7th Day Adventist Community Center, 333 Maine St., Brunswick, Maine.  Burial will be at Hillside Cemetery, Lisbon Falls, Maine.