FALMOUTH — Robert Leighton Cram, 100, died Aug. 11 in Falmouth.

Cram was born Aug. 21, 1912, raised in the Woodfords area of Portland and graduated from Deering High School in 1930.

He graduated from the University of Maine in 1935 with a degree in agriculture. In 1940 he received law degree from Boston University and joined his father Harry L. Cram in their law office on Exchange Street in Portland.

In 1939 Cram married Emilie Soule Chase of Cumberland Foreside, where they lived together for 50 years until her death.

In 1942 he enlisted in the Navy as an officer and served as a guard detail moving Liberty Ships across the North Atlantic and then on PT boats in the Mediterranean and in the Pacific on PT-209.

After the war Cram returned to practice law in Portland and continued to do so until his mid-80’s. A staunch Republican, he was the county chairman and worked in the county courthouse for 18 years. He followed his father in being elected to the Maine State Senate.

In Cumberland, Cram served for many years as overseer of the poor, town assessor and selectman. He was the president of the Falmouth Foreside Fire Company for 26 years.

He was a member of Woodfords Fraternity Lodge #6 IOOF for 73 years, serving as past noble grand and president of the Odd Fellows Hall Company of Deering. He was also a member of the Deering Lodge of the Masons, the Penobscot Grange, a member of the Foreside Community Church, and a Boy Scout troop leader.

In 1990 he married Marion Clark Lovendale of Falmouth and together they built a house on Cousins Island, where they created many new gardens. Eventually they moved to Ocean View at Falmouth – and created even more gardens.

He was predeceased by Emilie Cram in 1989 and their daughter Neva Cram in 2012.

He is survived by Marion Cram after 23 years of marriage; son James and his wife, Anne Armstrong Cram, of Falmouth and their children Nathaniel and his wife,  Abigail Hopkins Cram, of South Portland; daughters Rachel and her husband, Kyle Halliday, of Danville, Calif., and Emilie Cram, of Portland; husband of his late daughter, Kerry Drach, of Portland and their daughter, Gudrun Cram-Drach, and her husband, Matthew Royer, of Paris, France; and five great-grandchildren, Anne Margaret, Christobal, Nevan, Thaxter and Benjamin.

The family would like to thank the staff at Falmouth by the Sea for their excellent care. A memorial service was held Aug. 16 at the Foreside Community Church, in Falmouth with Rev. Kate Dalton officiating. 

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Foreside Community Church, 340 Foreside Road, Falmouth, ME 04105.

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