BANGOR - Elaine Ruth (Armstrong) Harris, formerly of Old Town, passed away April 8, 2009, at a local health facility, after a long illness. Elaine was born July 14, 1921, in Bangor, the only daughter of Roland Hathaway Armstrong and Madeline Helena (Perry) Armstrong. Elaine attended Bangor High School and beautician school in Bangor. She married her late and beloved husband, Roy Vincent Harris of Old Town, Oct. 17, 1942. Roy passed away March 16, 1989. Elaine enjoyed the great outdoors, tenting and brook fishing with her family in the Moosehead Lake/Rockwood area. Along with her husband and grandchildren, she later spent many years at her camp on Pushaw Lake, Hudson, enjoying her time working on her sculptures. She always looked forward to Halloween. That was a time when she could use her expertise in makeup and dress up in many different characters throughout the years. It was a thrill to see what she came up with each year. She had a lot of fun and had a great sense of humor. By trade Elaine was a hairdresser. She worked from her home in Old Town, and retired in the late '90s. Elaine was also an accomplished artist. In her early 50s she started painting. A few years later she attended classes at the University of Maine to learn stone sculpting. During the next 20-25 years she created a large number of stone sculptures. When Elaine worked her stones with chisel and mallet, an amazing transformation took place. She turned marble, alabaster, serpentine and soapstone into almost lifelike sculptures, with a surface as smooth as velvet. Elaine developed her own unique style. She preferred to sculpt animals - especially birds, fish and insects, with her own special interpretation. Some of her work can be seen on her website www.elaineruthharris.com. Her sculptures have been on display in Fleet Bank, Old Town; and in the Old Town Museum. Her work has also been shown on local TV, and she has been profiled in a special media project at the University of Maine. She is survived by two children, her son, Robert Vincent Harris of Bangor and his wife, Anne Reigstad, and daughter, Heather Dale (Harris) Upham, of Levant and her companion, LeRoy Wood; two grandchildren, Eric Roy Harris and his wife, Jana, of Beverly, Mass., and Danielle Lynn (Harris) Rauscher of Newport; two great-grandchildren, Jakob Eric Michael Rauscher, 6, of Newport, and Joshua Thomas Harris, 4 months, of Newport. Elaine will be sadly missed by her family and friends. Friends may call 5-7 p.m. Monday, April 13, at Brookings-Smith, 133 Center St., Bangor. Graveside services will be held 11 a.m. Friday, May 8, at Lawndale Cemetery, Old Town. Condolences to the family may be expressed at www.BrookingsSmith.com.