Honoring Florence Merrifield and Janie Mitchell, two icons of the Hope community Deborah L. Crabtree Sun, 05/09/2021 - 7:00pm I am writing this letter today for the wonderful, kind, nurturing people I grew up with in the tiny yet big-hearted community of South Hope. We just had two huge losses back to back, Florence Merrifield and Janie Mitchell. These two women were the icons of our community, second mothers, friends, moms, grandmothers and so forth. Florence Merrifield worked for the Town of Hope for many, many years until she retired. She was very missed after retirement at the Hope Town office, always smiling and knew what she was doing. I grew up with her children, Mark Merrifield and Maryanne Merrifield. Mark and myself graduated eighth grade together, as well as Elliot Mitchell, and then continued to Camden-Rockport High School, class of the great 1988.