SOUTH PORTLAND — Rachel Andrew Tabor died peacefully at South Portland Nursing Home on July 9.

Tabor, the only child of George I. and Gertrude B. Andrew, was born in Portland on Aug. 7, 1921.

She grew up in South Windham, where her family ran the L.C. Andrew Lumber Co. She graduated from Windham High School in 1938. In 1942, she earned a bachelor of science degree in home economics from Nasson College in Springvale, and soon completed a dietary internship at North Adams Hospital in Massachusetts.

Tabor later joined Maine Medical Center in Portland as a staff dietitian, a position she held until 1949 when she became chief dietitian at Westbrook Junior College.

In 1951, she married James LeForest Tabor. After initially living in Portland, the couple moved to the Danforth Cove area of South Portland, where they raised three children: Andrew Davidson, who was born in 1956, Gretchen in 1960, and Thomas Sanborn in 1961.

A dedicated homemaker who enjoyed nature and the outdoors, Tabor was a member of the Junior League of Portland and the Osewantha Garden Club. She performed volunteer work at Maine Medical Center and was a director of the South Portland Nursing Association. While her children were in school, she served as president of the Small School Parent-Teacher Association. She was also a former member of State Street Church in Portland.

In 1966, Tabor and her family built a cottage on Keoka Lake in Waterford. Upon her husband’s retirement from Oakhurst Dairy in 1981, the family bought and renovated a 150-year-old farm house in Naples. Tabor and her husband delivered Meals on Wheels throughout that area for many years, but in 2000 moved to Falmouth. The couple later resided at The Cedars in Portland.

Tabor’s husband predeceased her in September 2013. She is survived by her sons, Andrew, his wife, Elizabeth and their son, Kilton James Tabor, of Cape Elizabeth; and Thomas and his partner, Michael Stickney, of Surry; and a daughter, Gretchen, her husband, James Heath, and their daughters, Hillary Rachel Heath and Abbie Estherline Heath, of Chamblee, Georgia;

A private graveside service will be held at a later date. Arrangements are under the direction of Hobbs Funeral Home, South Portland.

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