Easton’s oldest resident, Luella (Dow) Ostrofsky, passed away peacefully at her home on Feb. 24. She was born on Sept. 6, 1916 in Dover-Foxcroft, Maine to Lewis and Lillian (Mitchell) Dow. Growing up on a small dairy farm as one of ten children (the third youngest) she developed a love of animals, plants, and all the natural world. She graduated from Foxcroft Academy in 1934, and in 1942, she moved to Connecticut to work for Chance Vought Airplane Factory to assemble Corsair fighter planes for WWII. She was a real life Rosie the Riveter. This is where she also met her husband, Milton. They married and had three sons.
In 1953, they moved to Easton where they built their home and where she has lived ever since. Luella was a long time member of Jesse Lee United Methodist Church here in Easton where she made countless friends and memories. She was very active in all church dinners, bake sales, and fundraisers. She served many years as a Cub Scout Den Mother and was a proud member of the D.A.R. in Fairfield, where she was an honored regent. She always enjoyed puzzles, games, and watching for birds on the feeder right outside of the kitchen window. Luella became quite the ornithologist, reading and studying about birds. She was also an active gardener her entire life. Luella and her husband always had such pride over their gardens and landscape. She also enjoyed going back to Maine for the yearly Dow Family Reunion when she could. Luella enjoyed her celebrity status as Easton’s oldest resident.
In September 2020, the town celebrated her 104th birthday with a stream of cars and pedestrians offering her birthday wishes. The parade included family, friends, neighbors and parishioners from Jesse Lee United Methodist Church of Easton, where Ostrofsky taught Sunday School and oversaw the ham and bean dinner as well as the annual Thanksgiving dinner preparations.
Luella is predeceased by her husband Milton, who passed away in 1993, and by all nine of her siblings over the years. She is survived by her three sons; Milton, of Meadville, Pa., William (and Andrea) of Augusta, Maine, and Jeffrey (and Michelle) of Easton. She is also survived by her grandchildren; Gillian, Johanna, Eric, Kathryn, and Nicholas as well as countless nieces and nephews in Maine and elsewhere. She was, as are her extended family and friends, especially grateful for the kind and continuous aid provided by Jeffrey and Michelle in her home during the last few years of her life.
Memorial services are still being planned, but Luella always donated to The World Wildlife Foundation, and in lieu of flowers she would have preferred any donation to the WWF.
