WATERFORD — Dorothy Allen Maxwell Mayberry, 85, of Waterford passed away at her home on Thursday, Dec. 31, 2015, from the effects of dementia.

Born on Oct. 6, 1930, to Bernard Love Maxwell and Ruth Osgood Allen Maxwell, “Dot” grew up in Reading, Mass., graduating from Reading High School and Mount Holyoke College with a degree in English Literature. Dot's family moved to Oak Hill Farm in Otisfield in the late 1940s, where she met her former husband, Archie Donald Mayberry, and raised her own family.

Dot loved literature and shared her passion for reading and learning with her children, Herbert Hugh Mayberry, Merrilee Love Wilson, “Rusty” Mayberry, Laura Lee Klein, and Marianna Fenton Hibbard. A lifelong learner, Dot embraced all challenges with zest and determination and firmly believed that if you had the will, there was a way. Dot had a unique ability to always see the best in a person. While raising her children and working full-time, she earned a M.Ed. from the University of Maine, Portland-Gorham.

Dot touched hundreds of lives during her career as a social worker for the Maine Department of Human Services, retiring after 25 years in 1987. A talented gardener, Dot preserved acres of food to feed her children, cut many cord of wood to keep them warm, and managed a menagerie of livestock.

Talented, industrious, adventurous and cultured, Dot learned to fly a glider at a young age, and from that point on, she was always planning life’s next adventure — be it a trip to Reid State Park for a sunset picnic or traveling cross-country in her little camper to explore Alaska with her longtime partner, Rita Charles. Dot was rarely idle and had a great affinity for the arts, theater and music. She was a longtime member of the Casco Village Church, active in the Waterford Grange, and a member of the Biggest Bucks in Maine Club.

In addition to her children and her partner Rita Charles, Dot is survived by her eight grandchildren.

At Dot’s request there will be no funeral services.