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Laurel Cyr Andrew passed away on August 24, 2018. She was born on Thanksgiving Day, November 27, 1941, in Salem, MA, the only daughter of
Raymond and Margery Barker of Stroudwater, Maine, Highland Lake and Siesta Key. Florida. Her distinctive holiday birth date was the source of many special family celebrations. She treasured her rich Irish and English heritage all of her life. Laurel’s Irish grandmother, Delia McDonough, and great grandmother, Ellen Glynn, were from Spiddal and Bealadangan in Ireland. Her English grandparents were the Barker family of Wenham and Hamilton, MA.

As a young child, studying at Three Arts Dance Studio with her little cousins meant that family times included Grandfather playing Honky Tonk piano, little girls tap dancing and little boys demonstrating Boy Scout projects. Advent was that special time of year when wreaths were hand made for the home and cemetery graves of all of the relatives. On Christmas day, the children shared poems and stories they had written, art projects and of course, “ad lib” tap dances. Setting the table with all its finery, helping Mom in the kitchen to make fudge, homemade candles for the ladies and pies for everyone to take home – one year that meant baking 27 pies! When everyone arrived, out came the photo albums and telling of happy stories of relatives past, early ancestors, talk of favorite restaurants in Ireland and what and whom to visit on the next trip there.

Educated at St. Joseph’s in Portland, she was chosen to represent Our Lady of Fatima at a statewide pageant held at City Hall, an honor that remained meaningful to her throughout her life. In more recent years, Laurel found God and the beautiful tenets of her Catholic faith in long walks by the sea and in nature in general.

She graduated from Deering High School, a member of the National Honor Society, both junior and senior years, a cheerleader and volunteer member of the school newspaper, The Ramblings, and the yearbook, The Amethyst. She had wanted to be a teacher since she was a second-grader herself, so that she could make a positive difference in the life of a little child. So college meant majoring in Education.

She graduated from the University of Maine with a B.S. in Primary Education and an M.S. in Literacy and Language Arts. During college years, she was a member of the Modern Dance Club, Amicitia honors club, a cheerleader, treasurer of her dorm, and was crowned Winter Carnival Queen. During her Master’s program, she held a research/teaching fellowship in Literacy. Summers she worked as a playground director at Deering Oaks in Portland. When she was crowned “Miss Maine” in the State pageant, the Portland paper described her as being a new image for the State – the girl next door type. Most meaningful for her was being awarded “Miss Congeniality” by her peers.

She taught Kindergarten and first grade. She taught Kindergarten in Maine, Massachusetts (as her husband completed his schooling), and in Michigan (while her husband served with the Public Health Service). Continuing her education, she received a Ph.D. in Reading and Language Arts at Syracuse University, where she held a teaching fellowship in Literacy Education. She served as State Director of the Right-to-Read effort in Maine, was a member of the New England Consortium for Reading Improvement Efforts and served as a consultant to the U.S. Office of Education in Washington, D.C. During this time she authored over two dozen funded federal grants for reading improvement throughout the State of Maine.

She was granted an annulment from her marriage to Dr. Peter T. Cyr, but continued to involve him throughout the years in all aspects of family life. She legally changed her last name to incorporate the middle name of her maternal grandfather, Thomas Andrew Mulhern. Her family, her spirituality, her teaching and her two daughters, Holly and Heather, whom she always referred to as her “treasures” – the best thing that ever happened to her – and her three little grandsons, Sky, Milo and Lake, whom she called her “little darlings”, were her whole life.

She taught Literacy, Language Arts, and Children’s Literature courses for the University of Southern Maine, served as Chair of the Literacy Department, and director of the Summer Reading Clinic. She loved teaching, always believing teacher and students learned together from each other. Dean Harlan Philippi said of her teaching, “Other members of my faculty encourage disciples, but you, Laurel, build scholars.” And Dr. James Whitten, philosophy professor said, “I tell my advisees, ‘If you have room for an elective, take any class from her, for just being with her will be a lovely influence on your life.’”

She enjoyed skiing and tap dancing and was a member of an adult group of tappers, ‘Bout Time Tappers’, who danced at nursing homes and for senior groups. She also loved travel, whether it was with family or friends. The best trips for her were those to Storyland, Santa’s Village and Disney with her two daughters and three little grandsons. Staying at Animal Kingdom and watching the giraffes eating leaves outside their bedroom window was fun for all.

She was a member of the Junior League, served as voluntary education director of Greater Portland Landmarks, was a Docent for the Ogunquit Museum of American Art and was affiliated with Scully Art Gallery in Perkins Cove Maine Summers. She was a member of the Jane Austen Society and the international Reading Association. Not surprising that Daphne DuMaurier’s book, The Loving Spirit was one of Laurel’s favorites for she truly exemplified its theme: what is passed down from one generation to another is a “loving spirit.”

In recent years, she contracted multiple myeloma and underwent chemotherapy and physical therapy to learn to walk again. Her daughters were with her constantly helping her to move and set up a home more conducive to a lovely quality of life closer to her doctors, caregivers, family and friends. Her children and brother, Richard, were her strength. Her former husband, Peter, came to take her to weekly chemotherapy treatments and so often her brother, Richard, came at 2:00 in the morning to sit with her to get through the long nights of pain. And his wife, Julie, said the rosary for her daily. She truly believed that no one could go through this process alone, but it was the loving support and prayers of her family and friends that made the positive difference through those painful times.

A special grandmother story she told was one evening at Christmas after reading the three little boys a story, she sang them to sleep with all the Christmas carols that she knew. Everything was all very quiet, so thinking they were fast asleep, she said “I love you so much my little darlings, have a happy sleep and pretty dreams. Nighty-night, my little darlings.” Three little voices came back in unison, “Nighty-night Grandmother.”

She is survived by her daughter Holly, her husband Frank DiCostanzo and their sons, Sky, Milo and Lake of MA; daughter Heather and her husband Jan Preusser of Colorado; her brother, Richard, his wife Julie and their daughter Catherine and husband William Jefferies and family of North Carolina, and son Christopher Barker and his wife Jolanda and family of Massachusetts. She is also survived by two cousins, Tom and Sandra.

Friends may visit on Tuesday, August 28, 2018 from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., with the Rosary to be recited at 6:30 p.m. by Rev. Fr. Fred Morse at Bibber Memorial Chapel, 67 Summer Street, Kennebunk, ME.

Should friends choose, memorial donations in her name are encouraged to: Dana Farber Cancer Institute, 44 Binney Street, Boston, MA 02115.

To leave a message of condolence, please visit Laurel’s Book of Memories page at www.bibberfuneral.com.

Arrangements are in care of Bibber Memorial Chapel, Kennebunk.