Bayville lost a big chunk of its heart and soul a month ago when Jane Wilson Stover, 97, died May 25 in Maplewood, N.J.

Known as 'Aunt Jane' to many of us, 'Mimi' to her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and 'Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy' to many Bayville young people a couple of generations ago, Bayville's most senior citizen was the center of Bayville summers for decades. She and her late husband C. Clark ('Uncle Click') bought their small white cottage on the hill in 1944. For many years, Jane and her younger sister Eleanor Jordan spent two months as next door neighbors in Bayville, their children intermingling as one big extended family.

In addition to her rosy cheeks and sparkling blue eyes, Aunt Jane's prematurely whitened hair made her instantly recognizable.

'She was a woman of great charm, energy and good humor, devoted to politics and the New York Times,' said her daughter, Ellen Eddy. 'The cherished matriarch of a large and loving family, she will be missed by friends and relatives of all ages.'

Her politics were decidedly left of center. When she suffered a fall two years ago, the Boothbay Harbor EMTs queried her anxiously to determine her mental state. After receiving satisfactory answers to the usual questions about whether she knew her name, what day it was, and where she was, an EMT asked, 'Who's the president?' 'George Bush, and I DON'T LIKE HIM,' she snapped vehemently.

'She never ended a day without reading the Times from cover to cover, fuming about the injustices in the world, and often dashing off letters to Senators and Congressmen and contributing to Emily's List and the Environmental Defense Fund,' said her older son, Charles 'Smokey' Stover. 'After reading the paper, she always did the crossword puzzle, working up to her special treat with Sunday's puzzle.'

'She was always ready for a political discussion,' Stover continued. 'It was a contrast and an eye-opener for me that she was such a strong Democrat, even when Daddy announced he was voting for Barry Goldwater.'

'She never lost her sense of humor, her unfailing sense of right or her graciousness,' said her younger son, David Stover. 'She was a class act to the end.'

Until the last few months of her life, her steel-trap mind had a memory for details that amazed all who knew her. In a poem read at Jane Stover's memorial service in New Jersey, KC Stover, one of her grandchildren, said the following:

You always exuded superlatives,

Exclamations of color and excitement,

And full immersion in meals and conversation

Was accompanied by an uncanny memory of all detail.

'She took tremendous interest in what you were doing,' said Smokey Stover.

'No detail was too small to escape her. Sometimes her interest and detailed knowledge was overwhelming - and I kept certain things to myself so that she wouldn't know more about it than I did.'

In Bayville, when she wasn't receiving visitors on the Rock Cottage porch, Jane Stover enjoyed swimming, boating, and family picnics -- Outer Heron was a favorite destination. For many years the family enjoyed sailing their Lightning or cheering on their children in Turnabout or Boothbay Harbor One Design races.

Born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Mrs. Stover was a 1929 graduate of the Vail-Deane School and a 1933 graduate of Smith College. When she wasn't in Bayville, her home was Colonia, New Jersey.

The widow of C. Clark (Click) Stover, she leaves her children, Ellen Stover, Eddy and John of Short Hills, Charles C. (Smokey) and Kit of Newton, Mass., and David R. and Laurel of Carbondale, Colo.; her grandchildren, Hilary Eddy Lafferty, Rebecca Stover Baker, KC Stover, Emily Stover, Nicholas Stover and Kate Stover; her three great-granddaughters; her sister, Eleanor W. Jordan of North Branford, Conn.; brother, David A. Wilson of Ponte Vedra, Fla., and her sister-in-law, Jean Stover of Bristol, R.I. She was predeceased by her grandson, John K. (Jeff) Eddy and by her brother, Kendrick R. Wilson on May 11.

Contributions may be made to the National Organization for Hearing Research Foundation, 225 Haverford Ave., #1, Narbeth, PA 19072; or the Smith College Fund, Smith College, 33 Elm St., Northampton, MA 01063.

A Boothbay area memorial service will be held at All Saints by the Sea at 2 p.m. Monday, August 11.