PORTLAND — Jean Stevens Hennessy died Dec. 31, at the Sedgewood Commons Care facility in Falmouth. She was born in Portland March 10, 1924, the daughter of Van Mitchell and Amelia Haskell Stevens.

Hennessy grew up in Portland, spent her summers on Peaks Island and graduated from Deering High School with the Class of 1942. She attended the University of Maine at Orono, where she was a member of Alpha Omicron Pi sorority and was named a Sophomore Eagle.

She married Thomas J. Hennessy Jr., her junior high sweetheart. The couple, who was married for 49 years, operated Hennessy Associates real estate appraisers in Portland and Cape Elizabeth.

For many years, Hennessy was active in the Cape Elizabeth, Bar Harbor, Blue Hill Garden and Sarasota Garden Clubs. She was a member of the Portland Junior League, Purdue Women’s Club, the Red Hat Society and the Ellsworth Busy Bodies.

The Hennessys lived in Cape Elizabeth and, after retiring, resided in Sarasota, Florida, West Lafayette, Indiana, Ellsworth and Redlands, California before returning to Maine in 2011. Hennessy was an expert seamstress, a gardener and an accomplished artist and musician.

Besides her parents and husband, she was predeceased by her son, Thomas J. Hennessy III.

Hennessy is survived by a sister, Patricia Cunningham, of Orono; a brother, Van M. Stevens Jr., of Sherborn, Mass.; four daughters, Susan Cotter, of Englewood, Florida, Martha Lambert, of Portland, Judith Buchanan, of Cumming, Georgia and Jane Harris, of Uniontown, Ohio; eight grandchildren; six great- grandchildren; and several nieces and nephews.

Hennessy’s family would like to thank the staff at Sedgewood Commons.

A private family graveside service will be held at Brooklawn Memorial Cemetery in Portland at a later date.

Hennessy

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