Juliette Libby Holladay

SCARBOROUGH – Juliette Libby Holladay passed away peacefully Saturday June 18, 2022, three days after her 96th birthday, surrounded by loved ones. She was a fighter until the very end, maintaining her charming spirit, endearing sassiness and relentless stubbornness. While the shock of her passing brings sadness to all who knew and loved her, there is great comfort in knowing she lived life to its fullest.

Daughter of Antonio Breton and Eva Rivard Breton, Julie was born on June 15, 1926. As a child, she loved going to summer camp, painting, taking Sunday rides with her parents and flying to New York with her grandfather to attend the opera. She attended Catholic elementary schools and later graduated from Lewiston High School. She then went on to earn her B.A. in Fine Arts at Rivier College, later doing graduate work at The University of Maine Orono and Columbia University.

While employed as Art Director for the city of South Portland, she met Robert Dwight Libby, “Bob”, a teacher and coach in the school system. After fending off several other suitors, she made the sound decision to accept his proposal of marriage and the couple was married on August 27, 1955, beginning a life together filled with happiness and love. They were blessed with three children and many wonderful friends. Julie chose to stay home raising the family but continued to dabble in art, never ceasing to find ways to add sparks of creativity and surprise to everyday life in her many creations. Her dynamic spark and artsy nature continued throughout her life.

Sharing their love for the sea, the family moved to Danforth Cove. During the summers, they spent hours on the beach at Prouts Neck, arriving early in the morning and leaving at dusk. Bob’s teaching fellowships at Princeton University, Loretta Heights College in Denver, Colo. and The University of Seattle took them away for three long summers and they drove cross-country exploring the United States and returning through Canada in awe of all there was to see. Their winters were spent skiing on the slopes of Mt. Abram and skating on ponds. Julie and Bob had four couples with whom they were very close, gathering often to play bridge, drink Canadian Club and Canada Dry ginger ale and laugh and laugh and laugh. The couples also traveled each year to Isle Au Haut for a week.

After her children were on their own, Julie traveled extensively throughout Europe, enjoying the richness of history, art, walking, and river boat cruises. She always found joy in the simple pleasures of life, like sipping tea in Turkey while contemplating purchasing rugs, dining in a cafe in Paris or browsing a flea market in Rome. She continued to rediscover enjoying things she had put on hold while raising a family.

An avid reader and opera lover, there were few things that brought Julie more bliss than listening to the sounds of “Madame Butterfly”, “La Bohéme”, “Faust” and “Carmen” on Saturday afternoons. She also found joy in many years of hand-delivering books from the South Portland Library to the elderly in nearby nursing homes. Her love of embroidery, cooking, painting with watercolors, gardening and being by the ocean were some of the many joys of life that she was able to pass down to her grandchildren. Her favorite French Proverb was, “le goût de la couleur ne doit pas être discuté” (which translates “taste and colors one must not argue; to each his own”).

While most would consider it lucky to have one true love in life, she was fortunate to have had two. Two decades after the untimely passing of her beloved Bob, Julie relocated to Boothbay Harbor to care for her daughter, Kate. Always ready for the next adventure, she enrolled in a watercolor painting class on Monhegan Island, where she met Louis Phillippe Holladay, III, a fellow artist and lover of sailing and the game of bridge. She was in her mid-70s and he was just shy of 90. The two exchanged love letters and eventually married in February of 2003. During their brief marriage, they shared a wonderful companionship, traveling to the Caribbean and sailing alone in the chilly waters of mid-coast Maine, well into November.

Julie had an affinity for the perfect martini, raw oysters from Damariscotta, a sip of cognac, fresh lobster delivered by her hard-working son, Michael, whose propensity for comedic story-telling kept her young at heart, and rum raisin “crème glacée.” She cherished the lifelong art of her daughter, Kate (Kate Libby Calendars). She deeply valued her daughter, Mary’s creative writing as well as her interests in art, design and sense of style.

Julie was predeceased by her parents; her sister, Muriel; her husband, Bob; daughter, Kate Libby; Lou Holladay; and her dear friends Rose and Eddie Flaherty, Mary and Bobby Graff and Beverly and Bill Cunnane.

She is survived by her daughter, Mary Elizabeth Libby, South Portland, son, Michael Libby, Gorham; eight grandchildren, Jack Lombard and wife Sadie, Cape Elizabeth, William Lombard and wife Caroline, Atlanta, Ga., Anna Lombard, South Portland, Kate Libby and husband Matthew, Pennsylvania, Ryan Libby, Scarborough, Adam Libby and wife Brooke, Gorham, Taryn Libby, Gorham, and Thomas Cornell, Boothbay Harbor. She also leaves behind 10 great-grandchildren, Quentin and Harrison Lombard, Libby and William Lombard Jr., Haisel and June McGeachey, Scout Foster, and Callen, Emelia and Lillie Libby. She is also survived by her dear friends Evelyn Marcus, Katherine Farnsworth, Suzanne and Buzzie Schneider, Reenie Patterson and Patricia Benson, and the many friends she made during her last decade as a resident of Piper Shores.

Julie’s family extends their gratitude and many thanks to the teams from Southern Maine Hospice and Piper Shores, for helping them care for Julie through the end of her life.

A Mass of the Resurrection will take place on July 26 at Holy Cross Church in South Portland at 10 a.m. with a celebration of life to be announced.

Condolences may be expressed to the family at http://www.HobbsFuneralHome.com.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you do something kind for a loved one or yourself. Take a long walk on the beach, jump in the ocean, buy that piece of art you’ve always wanted, read a good book… take a minute to enjoy this precious thing we call life.