Windsor’s Elwin Hussey dies at age 100

Elwin Hussey at 100 years old

WINDSOR – Elwin F. Hussey, 100, died peacefully at home on Saturday, December 9, 2023, following a short illness. The only child of Harland and Mildred (Shuman) Hussey, he was born in 1923, the same year his parents started their new business, Hussey’s General Store.

He grew up around the store and on his grandparents farm just down the road, attended Windsor Corner one-room schoolhouse, graduated from Erskine Academy, in South China, in 1940, and from Colby College, in Waterville, in 1944. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II as an aviation electronics technician.

After the war he returned home to the family business. He earned his pilot’s license and owned his own small plane for several years, taking off and landing in local pastures and touring up and down the Atlantic coast. In 1954 he married Shirley Avery, and he and his parents undertook a major expansion of their store to it’s present three-story location with many departments including radios, televisions and modern appliances.

Elwin and Shirley first traveled to Hawaii in the early 1960s. which began decades of wintering on the Big Island where they welcomed many friends and relatives over the years. He enjoyed tending his orange orchard there and making fresh-squeezed orange juice for every breakfast.

Elwin was an avid collector of 78 rpm records, phonographs and radios. He also bought, sold and collected books, especially books about Maine and by Maine authors, and books about military and war history. He did much research on Windsor history and genealogy of his ancestors and other local families.

He was predeceased by by his wife Shirley (2012).

He is survived by his three children, Roxanne Hussey, of Windsor, Rebecca Hussey, of Malibu, California, and Jay Hussey, of Windsor; three grandchilden, Kristen Ballentyne (husband Andrew), of Windsor, Jesse Reinherz (wife Jessica), of Juno Beach, Florida and Anna Reinherz, of New York City; and two great-grandchildren, Olivia Austin and Adeline Ballantyne, both of Windsor.

A graveside service will be held in the spring of 2024.

See also:

Windsor’s Elwin Hussey reaches the century mark

Hussey’s General Store: The history of a humble country business

A history of Hussey’s General Store