Rockland, Maine
Linda passed away with her husband, Rex, by her side on Sept. 13 at the Maine Medical Center in Portland.
Born to Arthur and Ivaloo (Brown) Patrick, Linda grew up and lived her entire life on the island of North Haven, Maine. An only child, she spent her childhood days almost as siblings with her cousins James and Foy Brown, exploring the island, making lifelong memories, and playing at the family business: J.O. Brown & Son Boatyard, where they would all end up working together.
Linda married Rexford Crockett on May 11, 1974, after they’d gone together for ten years. She frequently said she’d “chased him for years, until he finally gave up running, which was the smartest decision he ever made.” Together they built a life, beginning with their house they constructed by hand and made a welcoming home with their cats and dogs, mostly chocolate labs, which to her, were the only labs. She also helped Rex build R.A. Crockett Plumbing, a North Haven institution and the island’s only plumbing service from 1970 until 2020, when Rex retired at 82.
Work was Linda’s life. It was her way of engaging the community she loved. Starting in the `60s at Waterman’s Store as a young adult, she worked the candy counter, patiently counting penny candy, one piece at a time, for all the “snot-nosed brats,” as she (affectionately) called the kids. She wore bright colors, jangling bracelets, rings on every finger, painted nails and a rainbow pedicure in her purple sandals. She had a thick Maine accent, an endless supply of unprintable phrases, and an easy charm that made her the perfect person to welcome customers at the grocery store and later her family’s 134-year-old boatyard and hardware store.
She took over the hardware store from her uncle Jim as he aged out of the business at 92. There she was known for her no-nonsense answers to even the craziest of boating questions. If she didn’t have the answer, she could be heard (for miles) hollering “Foyyyy!” across the yard to page her cousin.
As busy as she was, she always made time to treat every dog in town, and any dog passing through the Fox Island Thorofare by boat, to copious biscuits and genuine affection. Most people knew they came second to dogs, but everyone also knew Linda would do almost anything for anyone in need. She was happy to turn on the gas and diesel pumps for the snowplows on snowy nights or taxi a stranded traveler to the airstrip on the other side of the island or organize a donation fund or a get-well card for a sick community member. Those who earned her friendship knew they’d done so for life.
Linda gave all of herself to the family business. She worked until she couldn’t and then kept at it for a while longer. Tougher than a ten-pound hammer and twice as reliable, she was and always will be irreplaceable. She will be missed by her island community, the boatyard customers and vendors and anyone lucky enough to meet such a singular figure. It’s hard to imagine the boatyard and the island without her.
Linda often said, “If I could go back to any age, it would be 27 because it’s the year Rex and I got married, and I had both of my parents.”
Predeceased by her parents, Arthur Patrick and Ivaloo Brown Patrick, Linda is survived by her husband of 48 years; brother and sister-in-law Wesley and Sharon Crockett and their family; her cousins, James O. and Candace Brown and family; Foy W. and Louisa Brown and family; and Kim Alexander and her family.
