Obituary of Barbara S. Hinckley

Barbara Estina (Sprague) Hinckley passed away on September 13, 2023. She was born the middle of ten children to Emery Gay and Charlotte Ella (Braley) Sprague on June 4, 1924 in Belfast, Maine. She attended Pierce School and graduated as a member of National Honor Society from Crosby High School in 1941. After studying piano a short time with Elizabeth King and Charles Pulsifer, she became the school accompanist at the age of eleven through her graduation at the age of sixteen.

Following graduation she went to work for Central Maine Power for five years before marrying Rev. Donald M. Hinckley in 1944 and having two children, Glenn Donald and Marsha Kathryn. She went back to work as Secretary to the Clerk of Courts of Oxford County, Perham’s Maine Mineral Store in West Paris, then as a traveling secretary to four elementary school principals in Holden, MA. Upon returning to Maine, she became the Secretary to the Headmaster of Maine Central Institute in Pittsfield, Secretary to the Business Manager of Bates College and finally retired as Administrative Assistant for Auburn Housing Authority in Auburn in 1990.

As an accomplished musician, she not only played piano and organ, but studied voice with renowned teacher Vincent V. Hubbard of Boston and Belfast, performing with the Worcester Choral Society, the Brunswick Choral Society, the Androscoggin Choral and many other choirs and music groups, as well as solo work. She also directed the Auburn Unitarian Universalist choir for seven years, a congregation that awarded her the distinguished Rose Window Award.

She was a dedicated athlete as a member of Prospect Hill Golf Course where she was vice president of the Ladies League for several years, swam during her lunch hours for 20 years and was a Red Sox fan. She was an avid reader and loved to cook. Who could ever forget her dessert creations, usually chocolate?

In 2019 she was heartlessly scammed out of her life savings but thanks to an article in the Lewiston Sun Journal by good friend and writer, Steve Collins, which caught the eye of Gov. John Baldacci He generously used his mother’s foundation, Mama Baldacci’s, and was able to raise back nearly all of what she lost.

She is survived by two children; Glenn Donald Hinckley of West Sumner, ME and Marsha (Hinckley) Donahue of Belfast, ME, five grandchildren and twelve great- grandchildren

A memorial service will be held on Friday, October 20th, 2023 at 1 p.m. at the First Universalist Church, 169 Pleasant Street, Auburn, ME 04210, with reception to follow at the church. Memories and condolences may be shared on her tribute wall.