Obituary for Kay Stuart Tolman
ROCKPORT - Kay S. Tolman (Cavanaugh,) passed away peacefully with her loving family by her side on Thursday, Dec. 15, 2022 at the Sussman House in Rockport, after a year long battle with Acute Myeloid Leukemia. She was 85 years old.
She was born in High Wycombe, England on December 17, 1937 to William and Marjorie Tulloch. During the war when Kay was just a young girl, she picked apples and handed them through the fence to Italian and German prisoners of war who were housed in barracks behind her home. In return, the soldiers carved wooden dolls for her, several of which she kept for many years.
Kay was educated at the Wycombe Abbey, where she excelled in her studies and was an outstanding field hockey player. When not in school, Kay and her friends were quite adventurous and often rode their bikes to Windsor Castle to explore the grounds.
On her eighteenth birthday in 1955, Kay married John H. Cavanaugh who was stationed with the Air Force at High Wycombe. For the next several years John and Kay lived in several different countries before settling at their home on Beech Hill in Rockport, where they raised their two children. In 1980 Kay lost her husband John, who passed away from cancer.
One weekend in 1981 when Kay’s son Andrew was home from college, he told his mother to invite Maynard Tolman over for dinner. The rest is history, as Maynard and Kay were very much in love and spent the next 42 years together. She loved the many weekends she spent with Maynard at their camp on Sysladobsis Lake, as well as the many trips they took across the country and around the globe. Kay was an outstanding homemaker and a fabulous hostess with an eye for detail. She and Maynard loved entertaining both their friends and loved ones with countless dinner parties.
Kay was as tough as she was beautiful. She was smart, capable, dependable and was always available to help someone in need. She enjoyed sewing, knitting, traveling and collecting antiques. She was an expert gardener and took pride in the numerous flowering plants that surrounded her home. She adored her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren and spent as much time with them as she could. She possessed an excellent sense of humor and was known to thrill her grandchildren with her impersonations of both a vampire and “Samurai Mum.”
Kay loved England and frequently visited, but she treasured the United States and in 2008 became a U.S. Citizen. She had traveled all over the world, but to her, “Rockport is the most beautiful place on earth.” She deeply appreciated the changing seasons and was forever grateful to have spent her adult life in Maine.
Kay was predeceased by her first husband John Cavanaugh, her parents William and Marjorie Tulloch, her brother Gordon Tulloch and her stepson Benjamin Tolman. Kay is survived by her loving and devoted husband Maynard Tolman; her daughter Carolyn Cavanaugh and her husband David Herrick; her son Andrew Cavanaugh; her step sons, Eric Tolman and his wife Monica and their children and grandchildren, Nelson Tolman and his children and grandchildren; Benjamin’s widow Krista, and her children. She leaves behind her cherished grandchildren; Alyson Meuth her husband Jason and their children of Blue Ridge, Texas, Jacob Crawford and his son of Rockport, Franzeska Cavanaugh and her daughter of Rockport, Matthew Cavanaugh his wife Kelsey and their children of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Julia Eve Cavanaugh of Warwick, Rhode Island.
A Memorial Service will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, January 10, 2023 at Burpee Carpenter and Hutchins Funeral Home, 110 Limerock Street, Rockland. A private interment will be held at a later date.
To share a memory or condolences with Kay's family, please visits their Book of Memories at www.bchfh.com.
She was born in High Wycombe, England on December 17, 1937 to William and Marjorie Tulloch. During the war when Kay was just a young girl, she picked apples and handed them through the fence to Italian and German prisoners of war who were housed in barracks behind her home. In return, the soldiers carved wooden dolls for her, several of which she kept for many years.
Kay was educated at the Wycombe Abbey, where she excelled in her studies and was an outstanding field hockey player. When not in school, Kay and her friends were quite adventurous and often rode their bikes to Windsor Castle to explore the grounds.
On her eighteenth birthday in 1955, Kay married John H. Cavanaugh who was stationed with the Air Force at High Wycombe. For the next several years John and Kay lived in several different countries before settling at their home on Beech Hill in Rockport, where they raised their two children. In 1980 Kay lost her husband John, who passed away from cancer.
One weekend in 1981 when Kay’s son Andrew was home from college, he told his mother to invite Maynard Tolman over for dinner. The rest is history, as Maynard and Kay were very much in love and spent the next 42 years together. She loved the many weekends she spent with Maynard at their camp on Sysladobsis Lake, as well as the many trips they took across the country and around the globe. Kay was an outstanding homemaker and a fabulous hostess with an eye for detail. She and Maynard loved entertaining both their friends and loved ones with countless dinner parties.
Kay was as tough as she was beautiful. She was smart, capable, dependable and was always available to help someone in need. She enjoyed sewing, knitting, traveling and collecting antiques. She was an expert gardener and took pride in the numerous flowering plants that surrounded her home. She adored her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren and spent as much time with them as she could. She possessed an excellent sense of humor and was known to thrill her grandchildren with her impersonations of both a vampire and “Samurai Mum.”
Kay loved England and frequently visited, but she treasured the United States and in 2008 became a U.S. Citizen. She had traveled all over the world, but to her, “Rockport is the most beautiful place on earth.” She deeply appreciated the changing seasons and was forever grateful to have spent her adult life in Maine.
Kay was predeceased by her first husband John Cavanaugh, her parents William and Marjorie Tulloch, her brother Gordon Tulloch and her stepson Benjamin Tolman. Kay is survived by her loving and devoted husband Maynard Tolman; her daughter Carolyn Cavanaugh and her husband David Herrick; her son Andrew Cavanaugh; her step sons, Eric Tolman and his wife Monica and their children and grandchildren, Nelson Tolman and his children and grandchildren; Benjamin’s widow Krista, and her children. She leaves behind her cherished grandchildren; Alyson Meuth her husband Jason and their children of Blue Ridge, Texas, Jacob Crawford and his son of Rockport, Franzeska Cavanaugh and her daughter of Rockport, Matthew Cavanaugh his wife Kelsey and their children of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Julia Eve Cavanaugh of Warwick, Rhode Island.
A Memorial Service will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, January 10, 2023 at Burpee Carpenter and Hutchins Funeral Home, 110 Limerock Street, Rockland. A private interment will be held at a later date.
To share a memory or condolences with Kay's family, please visits their Book of Memories at www.bchfh.com.