Bridgton, Maine - Elaine M. (Ambrose) Dunning, age 94, passed away on Friday, March 8, 2024, at the Bridgton Hospital. She was born September 3, 1929, in Bangor, a daughter of Leo J. and Mildred (MacNeil) Ambrose. She attended Bangor schools at a time when teenage girls spent Saturdays at the movie double feature, with war news-reals in between. She became a lifelong movie fan.

After graduating from Bangor High, she went on to Mt. Ida Junior College and then to Husson College where she earned a business degree. She married the love of her life, Robert B. Dunning Jr., on Sept. 9, 1949, and they had three children together, (Robby, Jimmie, and David). She loved being a mom and homemaker. This began her happiest years, as she recalled in recent times. She was one of those moms who hoped for "snow days", and loved playing in the snow, building snow forts, snowmen, and snowballs. It was OK to peg a snowball with all the mighty force of an 8-year-old as long as there were no ice bits in it.

Summers were spent at the family camp at Lucerne. The boys spending days playing in the woods, afternoons in the water, laying on the float, having cookouts for supper. One summer afternoon, her son ran into the house dripping wet to get a towel, and found her crying. When asked what was the matter, she tearfully responded that Judy Garland had died. A simpler time, to lavish such precious feelings on star-studded dreams with genuine emotion. It was the first time I saw her cry.

Once her boys were old enough and no longer walking home from school for lunch, she decided to work for the Bangor School Department as a school secretary. She had wonderful years with the school department, and made many lifelong friends during this time. As one teacher put it, "she touched everyone she met". She had a clever sense of humor and loved to laugh, with glinting blue eyes that betrayed the prank she was playing, if you looked closely enough.

She was always a privately religious person, attending mass on Sundays at St. John's. For her entire life she would kneel beside her bed each night to pray, until in the most recent years her rickety old bones forced her to sit on the side of her bed with head bowed.

She suffered the loss of her second son James in 1986, due to complications of diabetes. He was 29 years old. She lost her youngest son, David, when he was 42, also due to comorbidities of diabetes. Her grief was always tucked tightly in the back of her throat, only rarely making an utterance, gently sobbing through silent prayers.

She lived her final years with her oldest son Rob, in southern Maine. She lived a very long and full life, and until her final week was exercising, mobile with a walker, loved riding in the countryside, and was reading approximately a book a week; her last one sitting on her table just 30 pages from the end. She loved life and had a very strong inner core, wrapped in all of the softness and warm fancies afforded to young girls of her generation.

She was predeceased by her loving parents, Leo and Mildred Ambrose; her husband, Robert B. Dunning Jr.; her sons, David M. and James A. Dunning; her sisters, Margaret Welch, and Joan Shaw. She leaves to cherish her memory her devoted son, Rob Dunning; and her niece, Barbie Welch of Manchester, NH; her husband, John; and their wonderful family.

In keeping with Elaine's wishes, anyone choosing to leave a gift in her name is encouraged to contact the American Diabetes Association. A private graveside service will be planned at Mt. Hope Cemetery in Bangor, later in the year. Arrangements are under the care of Chandler Funeral Home and Cremation Services, 8 Elm St., Bridgton, ME. To make an online condolence, please visit chandlerfunerals.com.