Gladys Abbie Payne, 96, Was Professional Baker

Gladys Abbie Payne of Arlington died Monday, March 15, at the Windemere Nursing Home in Oak Bluffs. She was 96.

Gladys was born in Boston on March 30, 1907, the daughter of Charles S. Berry of Freedom, N.H., and Clara B. Ray of Nova Scotia. She married George F. Payne of Boston.

In Boston she was the owner and operator of Brown's Home Bakery on Washington street until urban renewal forced her out of business. In 1954 she moved to Arlington, where she resided for the next 47 years. There she worked with her daughter at Swanson's Bakery on Massachusetts avenue.

She enjoyed gardening, cooking and crocheting, which she took up at age 66. She loved animals as well and talked often and fondly of her girlhood pony, Bonnie, and her summers on the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia.

Although hesitant at first, Mrs. Payne came to enjoy her days at the Edgartown Senior Day Care Program and the warm compassion of the staff and caregivers at Windemere.

She was predeceased by her brother, Earl Judson Berry, her son, Ronald B. Payne, and her daughter, Eleanor M. Kellett. She is survived by her granddaughters, Susan B. Kellett of Oak Bluffs and Jeanne E. Kellett of Hillsboro, N.H. Two great-grandsons also survive her, Joseph Broome of Hillsboro, N.H., and Evan K. Wardell of Vineyard Haven.

Funeral arrangements are private, under the care of Chapman, Cole and Gleason Funeral Home in Oak Bluffs.