Judith Vaill Manchester

WINSTED — Judith Vaill Manchester of Winsted died at home on Saturday, April 12, 2014, after a valiant battle with ovarian cancer. She was 73. Born on Oct. 1, 1940, she was the daughter of Evelyn (Weatherhead) and Theodore Vaill. She was the beloved wife of George E. Manchester, also of Winsted.Judith grew up in Winsted and attended local schools. She graduated from Gilbert High School in 1958 and St. Luke’s Hospital School of Nursing in New York in 1961. After retiring from various nursing employment she went back to school and earned a BS in professional arts from St. Joseph’s College in Standish, Maine. She volunteered as a nurse for the American Red Cross Blood Bank for many years in Westport, Conn.Prior to retiring in Winsted and moving back to her childhood home, she lived in Westport, Conn., for 36 years where she was a longtime member of the Green’s Farms Congregational Church.Wonderful summers were spent at the family cottage in South Bristol, Maine, where family and friends would gather annually. Judith was a fabulous cook and loved to entertain on the beautiful coast of Maine. She doted on her grandchildren and made sure that their favorite red cookie jar was almost always full. She was an avid gardener and enjoyed restoring long-forgotten historical gardens. Judith was active in the Thompson Ice House Preservation Society for many years as a director and manager of the ice house museum.Judith was a member of the Mayflower Society through lineage to John Alden, and also a member of the Winchester Historical Society and South Bristol Historical Society. Genealogy was a favorite topic and she pieced together an extraordinarily detailed family history; family and local connections to the Civil War were her specialty.In addition to her husband of 50 years, she is survived by a daughter Kimberly Manchester Shaw and her husband David of Wilton, N.Y.; a son Jeffrey Vaill Manchester of Westport, Conn.; five beloved grandchildren, Alexander and Daniel Shaw, and Logan, Max and Ella Manchester; and two brothers, Stephen G. Vaill and his wife, Sandra, of Winsted, and Theodore Vaill and his wife, Ruth, of Colebrook. Several nieces and nephews also survive her.A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. on May 31 at the Second Congregational Church, 800 Main St., in Winsted.In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be sent to the Thompson Ice House Preservation Society, PO Box 216, South Bristol, ME 04568.