“When a loved one is facing their final chapter of life, one of the greatest expressions of grace and love is who they write that chapter with. In hospice, we describe this as a journey. A journey of facing the reality of death while honoring and celebrating life. A journey of tears and laughter, reflection and remembrance. A journey that can reawaken the heart to the eternal hope for which it was fashioned. Join Doris Anne on this journey as she shares with you from a deeply personal and sacred place of what it meant- and what it will always mean – to have been Berne’s best friend and wife.”
Michael Lacey
Chaplain
Berne had many angel visits during his last days. He remained alert and kept his sense of humor until he passed. I had hoped to keep him home with me, but as his systems shut down that was no longer possible. Our nurse advised an evaluation at the hospital where they gave him three days to live. Berne was blind now. God gave him visions of priests who filled him with love and took away his pain. He was in pallative care so I was allowed to visit. After thirteen days he was transferred to a Hospice/Vet Home. Covid limited my visits to porch visits where he was separated by glass. If he fell or had a low blood sugar I was allowed into his room. Then I could touch him and he would say, “This is wonderful.” I wanted people to know that God is always with you.
Doris Anne enjoyed a career in education and art. She received her degree from Goucher and married Roland Charles Jr in 1959. They had four children. She moved to Wayne, Maine, and married Howard Holman, becoming a Reading Supervisor, teaching second grade, and Middle school art. She ran watercolor workshops in Maine, New Hampshire and Bermuda. She joined Vincent Hartgen’s Travelling Art Exhibits (UM0) in the 70s. She married Berne A. Babineau in 1994. They resided in Brunswick, Maine, and wintered in Florida. Doris Anne wrote eleven children’s books featuring birds and visited schools.
She is a member of the Maine Arts Commission. She received the Presenter Award from USF for Suncoast Young Author’s Celebration. She enjoyed a Story Walk with Come With Me to the Pond in Gardiner. She won a Lifetime Achievement Award from Marquis Who’s Who and has her website with them, Doris Anne Holman.com