Obituaries

Jeanne St. Andre Merkel

Former South Jamesport resident Jeanne St. Andre Merkel died June 13 at her home in Columbia Falls, Maine. She was 83 years old.

Ms. Merkel founded the Pine Tree Day Nursery in Riverhead in 1964 and, in 1984, authored the book “Nine Boats and Nine Kids” about her adventures sailing the Peconic Bays with her family. In the early 1980s, she and her husband, Joseph, founded and ran Quietside Campground on Mount Desert Island in Maine. Since her husband’s death in 2006, she had split her time between Maine and Great Guana Cay in the Bahamas.

Ms. Merkel is survived by eight children: Joseph, of Southold; Jeanne Marie, of Mattituck; Elaine, of Cambridge, Mass.; Jim, of Belfast, Maine; Jeff, of Seneca Falls, N.Y.; Renee Leone of Machias, Maine; Marie of Blue Hill, Maine; and Michele Sorenson of Norwich, Conn. Nineteen grandchildren and several great-grandchildren also survive her. She was predeceased by her youngest son, Paul.

A memorial service will be held in Maine.