Ilene Everhart Hathaway, a resident of Falmouth for the past 53 years, died on Jan. 30 at the Mayflower Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Plymouth. She had been moved there to avoid the possibility of snowstorm power failure at home, where she was being cared for the long-term effects of Alzheimer’s disease. She was 90.

She was born on March 29, 1924 on a farm in Gypsum, Kans., the daughter of the late Lloyd R. and Elsie (Rutz) Everhart. She was educated in a one-room country schoolhouse and then graduated from Gypsum High School. Because of her desire to help people, she went on to earn a nursing degree from St. John’s Hospital School of Nursing in 1947 and a bachelor’s degree in nursing education from Marymount College in Salina, Kans., in 1948. Her nursing career started as a medical and surgical nursing instructor at the Hudson City Hospital School of Nursing in Hudson, N.Y. Hudson is where she met her husband John C. (Jack) Hathaway. They married on Feb. 4, 1951 in Champaign, Ill., where she was the director of the Julia F. Burnham School of Nursing.

At the completion of her husband’s graduate studies at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, his employment by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) brought them to Tacoma Park, Md., in 1952, to Denver, Colo., in 1958, and then to Falmouth in 1962. She also spent many happy summers of her marriage raising her family of four children at the family cottage in Oak Bluffs.

From 1985 to 1989, she and Jack lived in Bandung, West Java, Indonesia, while he had a temporary assignment with the USGS as the resident advisor in marine geology to the government of Indonesia. This was a magical time and she loved her life as an expatriate. She was socially active and elected vice president of the Woman’s International Club and became a member of the Helping Hands to help the poor in West Java.

In Falmouth, she was a volunteer instructor for the Falmouth Hospital Auxiliary volunteer nurses’ aides, worked part time as a nurse at the Falmouth Hospital and in private duty nursing.

She was an active member of the First Congregational Church in Falmouth, sang in the choir for 45 years, and was one of the original founders of the children’s clothing exchange at the church.

Ilene was the organizer of her family of six and always had them supplied, packed and ready to go on their many family trips. She loved gardening, sewing, traveling and music. She sang in a choir in every place she lived. She played the clarinet in the high school band, a musical wind ensemble in Indonesia, the Falmouth Town Band, and the Cape Conservatory Concert Band. Ilene traveled the world with her husband visiting almost 40 countries, circling the world three times. To keep up with her active family, she valiantly tried downhill skiing and followed them to Colorado, the Northeast, and the Alps; and accompanied her husband and family on many sailing trips in the waters off the East Coast, the British Virgin Islands, and inland waterways of New York state.

The family is very grateful for the loving care she received by the CNAs who cared for her at home and for the services provided by Hope Hospice of Cape Cod.

She leaves her husband of 64 years Jack, daughter Debra and husband David Foster of Dunbarton, N.H., son David and wife Jane Hathaway of Tucson, Ariz., son Martin Hathaway of Casselberry, Fla., daughter Alicia and husband Michael Buccino of North Falmouth, and son Wie Gie Lim and his partner Amy O’Rourke of Falmouth. She also leaves six grandchildren, Caroline Foster of Santiago, Chile, Kimberly Anderson of Casselberry, Fla., Christopher Buccino of Cambridge, Juliana Buccino of Nashville, Tenn., Michael Buccino of Winter Park, Fla., and Lilia Buccino of North Falmouth. She is also survived by five step grandchildren, nine step great-grandchildren, her sister Wanda Lee and husband William Grosser of Salina, Kans., and many nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her grandsons William Foster and Nicolas Buccino, and four brothers.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, Feb. 7, at 11 a.m. at the First Congregational Church on Main street in Falmouth. Burial will be in the spring.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her memory to the First Congregational Church, 68 Main street, Falmouth, MA 02540 or to Hope Hospice, 359 Main street, Falmouth, MA 02540. For online condolences, visit ccgfuneralhome.com.