JONESBORO – Theone Look, whose service in town, county and state government stretched over 50 years, was remembered with fondness Wednesday.

Look, 79, collapsed after attending Monday’s annual town meeting and died Tuesday.

“How appropriate that she went in the midst of public service,” said former Gov. Angus King, whose first years in Augusta overlapped with the last of Look’s terms in the state House of Representatives.

From Jonesboro to Augusta, Look cultivated friends and colleagues who respected her long after 1996, the 10th and final year she served in the Legislature.

Once retired, she continued to do the books for the family business, Carroll Look Construction, which she ran with two of her four sons.

But she still drove frequently to Augusta for meetings, hearings and social occasions as recently as last week.

“Even after she was no longer a member of the House of Representatives,” said state Sen. John Martin, D-Eagle Lake, “she was still showing up to testify about issues concerning Washington County.”

Martin, a former Speaker of House, will be a participant in Look’s funeral. That is scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday at the Centre Street Congregational Church in Machias.

The Jonesboro Union Church, the Jonesboro Grange and the Eastern Star were three groups Look continued to care about.

“She had that ability to take an old, dirty Grange Hall table, fix it up with some tablecloths and you’d think it was ready for a queen,” said Affie Look Carlson, her sister-in-law. “She knew how to make costumes and did many pageants for the Sunday school. She could sing, too.”

When home from Augusta, Look would phone longtime friends, who would advise her on Washington County issues.

“She was a listener,” said John Crowley of Addison, a Washington County commissioner and former county sheriff. “She would listen to the people she represented. She was a big supporter of law enforcement.”

Joe Tibbetts of Columbia, the county’s current sheriff, said Look was “like a great aunt” to him.

“She was always available to help me as an individual, even back when I was on state police,” Tibbetts said. “She always put the concerns of the people of Washington County above even her own business.”

Edward Hennessey Jr., president of Machias Savings Bank, knew Look as a customer for more than 30 years.

“What you saw with Theone is what you got,” Hennessey said. “Usually when she spoke, people listened. She was never afraid to express her opinion. She was always professional and knew exactly what she wanted.”

Following 24 years as town clerk for Jonesboro, Look spent 10 years as a county commissioner. A Republican, she served five terms in the state House from 1986 to 1996. Term limits were imposed in 1996, so she waited out one term before she ran again.

That time, in 1998, she lost to Martha Bagley of Machias.

“She and Martha were cut from the same cloth,” former Gov. King said. “She was a fierce advocate for the people up there. Her combination of honesty and feistiness reminded me of Margaret Chase Smith.”