OBITUARIES for Thursday, June 13, 2024

JOSHUA T. NELSON

SIDNEY – Joshua Thomas Nelson, “Big Country”, 35, of Sidney, passed away on June 5, 2024, as a result of an automobile accident.

Josh was a hard­working, fun loving family guy. He spent most of his time working on building his business. He was the one you could count on! He had strong beliefs and enjoyed discussions whether you agreed with him or was on the opposing side. His love of ribbing and joking had no bounds. Josh had a tough exterior, but he was a selfless teddy bear.

Josh was a graduate of St. Augustine Catholic School, in Augusta, and graduated in 2008 from Messalonskee High School, in Oakland. Josh was a communicant of St. Augustine Church.

Joshua obtained his CDL license then began work for Pat Jackson and Dube Environmental before venturing out to establish his own successful business, JT Nelson Sewer & Drain LLC.

Josh “Big Country” enjoyed camping, hunting, fishing, and riding his Harley. He took pride in his country, talking history and politics. He loved spending time in Jackman. Josh had a big heart, was always willing to help others and was fiercely loyal. His love of family was evident at Sunday dinners at his parents’ home in Sidney and he never missed a family event.

The world was a better place having had Josh in it, he will be missed greatly by all who knew him.

Joshua is survived by his parents, John and Donna Nelson; his sister, Renee Nelson; and niece, Arianna Dube; several aunts, uncles, and cousins.

Josh was predeceased by his maternal grandparents, Jude and Dora Brunelle; great-grandmother, Ida Toussaint; as well as his paternal grandparents, great-grammy Doris Knight, and grandmother, Beatrice Sproul.

A celebration of life will be held Saturday, June 15, 2024, at 1 p.m., at the Augusta Civic Center, North room.

Arrangements have been entrusted to Plummer Funeral Home, 16 Pleasant St., Augusta, ME 04330. Condolences, stories and photos may be shared by visiting http://www.plummerfh.com.

ALISON MIZNER

WATERVILLE – Alison “Mickey” Mizner, 88, died peacefully at her home, in Waterville on January 14, 2024. The cause was cancer. Born on Staten Island, New York, in 1935, Mickey was the daughter of Henry Bamford Parkes, a historian, and Mollie Brown, a psychologist.

Mickey moved to Waterville with her husband, John Mizner, in 1963 after he got a job teaching English at Colby College, in Waterville, and they lived on West Court with their children Sarah and David. She had an older sister, Nancy, who she would stay close to throughout her life. When Mickey was three, the family moved to Yorktown on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

Her parents pulled her out of public school and enrolled her in Walden, a private school on the Upper West Side. Most of the students there came from wealthy families, and Mickey felt out of step with her classmates.

Mickey lived at home while attending New York University and graduated as an English major. For her first salaried job, she worked as a case manager with the Bureau of Child Welfare. The experience was formative for Mickey, who would later write that the people she visited never had a real chance in life due to “racism, poverty, and bureaucratic intransigence.”

On a blind date, she met John, who was working toward a PhD in English at the University of Pennsylvania. They were an ideal match. John, having endured a traumatic childhood as a Holocaust refugee, needed a caretaker, a role that came naturally to Mickey. John, meanwhile, was the dependable, stabilizing force that Mickey needed.

John took a job at Colby, which was in a state neither he nor Mickey had visited. In 1967, shortly before Sarah was born, they moved to West Court. David was born two years later.

Mickey and John took enormous pleasure in food, travel, day trips to Great Pond and the coast, movies at Railroad Square Cinema, and the many friends they made through Colby.

In the late ‘70s, Mickey earned a degree in speech therapy at the University of Maine Orono and started working in the elementary schools, helping students overcome stutters and other impediments.

Mickey enjoyed watching her children play sports and might have even felt a bit of “Panther Pride” when David’s basketball team won the state championship in 1985. She and John loved to travel. They took many trips to Europe, first with the children then without. Perhaps their favorite destination was the French Riviera, where John’s father lived. The family often went to New York City, because both grandmothers lived there, and in later years John and Mickey continued to visit, eventually buying an apartment in the city with the idea they would spend time there after John retired.

But it was not to be. In 1998, shortly before his retirement, John was diagnosed with kidney cancer. Mickey immersed herself in the task of caring for him. The cancer progressed rapidly in the fall, and he died at home in December at the age of 66.

It was after John’s death that Mickey, trying to process her enormous grief, began to write, first about his sickness, then about her childhood and her family. Having read thousands of books in her life, Mickey discovered that she herself was a writer.

She read for hours every day, doted on her cats, did yoga, researched and supported animal welfare efforts, kept up on both local and national politics, volunteered in a senior companion program, and met friends for movies and meals.

Friends cared for Mickey throughout her seven-year sickness. They took her to medical appointments, brought her dinner, slept over, shopped for her, sat with her, and ultimately enabled her to die as she wanted, at home.

Mickey lived mindfully, taking little for granted. Even during chemo cycles, she took joy in her many pleasures, whether it was her daily phone call with Nancy, an episode of All Creatures Great and Small, or one of the mini-Butterfingers she kept in the fridge.

Mickey is survived by her children, Sarah, her husband Josh, David, his wife Miri; her grandchildren Anna, Sophie, Nate, Milo, Gideon and Izzy; her sister Nancy; and several nieces and nephews.

A celebration of life will be held on Saturday, June 22, at 10 a.m., at Lorimer Chapel, at Colby, with a luncheon reception to follow at 2 West Court, in Waterville.

Services

BARBARA W. PINKHAM

OAKLAND – A Celebration of LIfe will be held for Barbara Wilson Pinkham, at the Oakland-Sidney United Methodist Church, School Street, Oakland, on Saturday June 15, 2024, at 11 a.m. Lunch will follow in the Social Hall.

Those who wish are invited to visit The Lexington Center Cemetery, in Lexington, and join a tour of the Lexington/Highland History House, a museum project initiated by Barbara Pinkham.

DAVID S, CAMPBELL

AUGUSTA – David S. Campbell passed away September 1, 2023.

A grave­­side service will be held on Sunday, June 23, 2024, at 11 a.m., at the Resthaven Cemetery, Route 32, Windsor. with military honors for his 20 years of service in the United States Air Force. He was also a member of the American Legion Post #2, the Elks Lodge #964, both in Augusta, a Mason and had nine years of voluntary service to the Maine State Credit Union.

There will be no gathering after the services. Please bring memories and stories to share.

RICHARD STAPLES

Please join the family as they come together to honor and celebrate the life of Richard Staples on Saturday, June 22, 2024, at 3 p.m., at the home of Forrest Staples, 930 Colby Road, Palermo, Maine.