May 17, 1930 – August 8, 2024
Josephine “Jo” Wade Glover, 94, passed away on Aug. 8, 2024, at St. Andrews Village in Boothbay Harbor, Maine, with her family by her side.
Jo was born on Swan Island in the Kennebec River to Millard and Betty Ritchie Wade. The family lived on Swan Island until 1938, when they moved to Eleuthera in the Bahamas, where her father had a job skippering a supply ship that ran between Florida and the Bahamas.
Later, the family was headed back to Maine when they stopped in Jacksonville, Florida, and fell in love with the city. Summers, however, were always spent on Capitol Island, where Jo grew up swimming and sailing. She became a proficient skipper in Boothbay Harbor One Designs and won many races with her sister Pat as crew. One year, Jo, with a crew of three, won the southern Maine division for the Adams Cup, a competition for the United States Women’s Sailing Championship.
After completing high school in Jacksonville, Jo attended Florida State University in Tallahassee. There she majored in art and interior design, joined Zeta Tau Alpha Sorority and became a member of an elite group of women called the Tarpons who performed and competed in synchronized swimming.
Jo married Dana Alward in 1952 and started a family in Reading, Massachusetts. After her daughters were born, Karen in 1953, followed by Janet in 1955, Jo enrolled in Tufts University to earn her teaching degree, followed by a Master’s Degree at Lesley University. She was a dedicated and excellent teacher for 25 years, with three of those years as a principal. As a working mother she somehow found time to take on all kinds of challenges: landscaping the raw land around her home, creating gardens and building stone walls, all with beautiful results. After retiring Jo stayed busy volunteering in many ways to help people in their day-to-day lives. She was a caring daughter giving her mother and father much loving attention in their final years.
Jo was dedicated to her church and was a proud member of P.E.O for 70 years. Her home was always a welcoming place for friends and strangers alike. Throughout Jo’s adult life, she had a poodle by her side; they were her treasured companions.
She is survived by her sister, Patricia Wade Fraker and husband, Robert; daughter, Karen Perkins and husband, Dickie; daughter, Janet Weeks, husband Marty, their son Robin and wife Abbie and their three daughters, Charlotte, Bell and Ayla; son, Tristan; nephew, Charles A. Stewart, III, his wife Jennifer and son, Alexander; niece, Diane Stewart Jones and husband, Bill.
In lieu of flowers, Jo’s particular wish was that contributions be made to the Friends of Swan Island whose mission is to preserve the rich history of the island, maintain the remaining dwellings and keep the island open to the public, especially for school children. The history of the island includes wooden ship building and a thriving ice cutting business. Kennebec ice was shipped worldwide. Mailing address: Friends of Swan Island, 157 Pleasant Street, Richmond, ME 04357. Website: swanislandmaine.org.
Jo’s family would like to give special thanks for the amazing Beacon Hospice team who cared for her at the end of her life. Their professionalism, compassion and humor helped us all.
A service to celebrate Jo’s life will be held at the Congregational Church of Boothbay Harbor on Friday, Aug. 16 at 3 p.m. with a reception following in the Fellowship Hall downstairs.
Arrangements are entrusted to Hall Funeral Home and Crematory, 975 Wiscasset Road, Boothbay.
Condolences may be shared with the family at hallfuneralhomes.com
