Dr. John H. St. Andre passed away at his home in Readfield, Maine on Sunday, August 29th, 1999. He was 65 years old.
He was born in Sea Cliff, New York, the son of John St. Andre and Eva St. Andre (née Desmarest), both originally of Woonsockett, RI. He graduated from Williams College in 1956 and from Yale University School of Medicine in 1961. After serving his internship at Central Maine General Hospital in Lewiston, Maine, and residencies in Warren, Pennsylvania, and in the Panama Canal Zone, he worked as a staff psychiatrist in the New York State Hospital system for 13 years. He moved to Maine in 1977 and worked for the last 22 years of his life in psychiatry at the U.S. Veterans Administration Hospital at Togus.
Dr. St. Andre was a tireless advocate for the health care rights of Maine's veterans. He will be remembered by his patients and colleagues as a doctor who put the needs of his patients first and who made a real difference in their quality of life. He also had a strong interest in land preservation and was an active member of the Kennebec Land Trust. He had a great love for Maine's historic barns; he and his wife are known for the restoration of their own barn in Readfield, which now houses the couple's books and antiques business. He took pride in this and other entrepreneurial activities and always sought out the contributions of local craftspeople.
John St. Andre was married to the former Engelbertha Marie Rühland for more than 38 years. He is survived by his wife, their four children, two grandchildren, two sisters, and two brothers.
A memorial service was held on Thursday, September 2, 1999, at Christ Church, Gardiner, Maine, at which many of John's neighbors, patients, colleagues, and family made public remembrance of his life (the only written record of these remembrances is a poem by his son Peter). The family requests that his love of the land be honored through donations to the Kennebec Land Trust, P.O. Box 261, Winthrop, Maine, 04364.