GORHAM- Cynthia Nellie Austin, 88, a/k/a “Gram”
Our beloved Gram passed away on May 20, 2025, after a brief battle with cancer.
She was born at Westbrook Hospital on November 3, 1936, the only child of John and Lola Hattenburg. She graduated from Gorham High School in 1955 and lived her entire life on Harding Road, keeping constant watch on the comings and goings of family, friends, neighbors, and wildlife, usually from the seat of her tractor. If Harding Road had streetlights, we would dim them.
She married Philip L. Austin, on June 16, 1956, and they had two children, John and Christy. She later had two grandchildren whom she more than adored, and two great-granddaughters she doted on. There was no one more intensely loyal and devoted to her family.
Gram was also fiercely independent and unique, a true Rennaissance woman in every way. She worked on cars, split her own wood, and mowed, raked and baled hay until she was 86 years old. She was also a member of the Maine Country Music Hall of Fame, did stunningly intricate cross-stitch needlepoint, and made biscuits that were legendary in three states. She could paint, garden, and beat the pants off anyone at cribbage. She also loved hunting, fishing, and all animals (except for the woodchucks), and was a lifelong horsewoman and supporter of the ASPCA and Animal Refuge League.
She was predeceased by her husband, Philip L. Austin, her son John P. Austin, and her grandson D. Benjamin Worster. She is survived by her daughter, Christy (Austin) Cousins, her granddaughter, Angie (Worster) Keith, her son-in-law, Barry Cousins, her great-granddaughters, Caroline Keith and Emma Worster, her “adopted” daughter, Cheri Dyer, and her sisters-in-law, Evelyn Austin and Marion Mains. We would like to extend a very special thanks to Southern Maine Hospice. The family will hold a graveside service at Eastern Cemetery in Gorham on Thursday, June 5th at 6:00pm.
Gram’s graduation quote was from a Tennyson poem, emphasizing that inner goodness and compassion are more valuable than outward symbols of wealth or status: “Kind hearts are more than coronets”. This would ring true of her long life in more ways than she could have imagined. She never had much, but she gave what she had with all of her beautiful heart. There will never be another Gram, and for that we are all lesser.
In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to the Maine State Society for the Protection of Animals in Windham, Maine and help save an abused horse in Gram’s memory.