Madeleine Lajoie

Madeleine Lajoie, 89, a lifelong resident of Nashua, NH passed away peacefully on Sunday Feb 20, 2025, at Premier Healthcare where she had been a resident for the last several years. She had a long professional career at Nashua Corporation in a variety of administrative capacities involving specialty paper sales until her retirement in 1998. She was a conscientious worker who very much enjoyed her career and was valued as a diligent employee and friendly co-worker. After retirement she led a full social life with family and friends that included extensive travel throughout the US and abroad.

Madeleine is survived by her sister-in-law Jo Ann Lajoie, and numerous nephews and nieces and their families. With no children of her own she embraced her siblings' children as her own brood and took an active interest in their well-being. Her nieces Celine Law and Melissa D'Errico and their spouses were especially helpful to her towards the end of her life. Her lifelong friends Priscilla Morin, Priscilla McKuskey and Diane Burke remained steadfast companions as she made the difficult journey from healthy independence to assisted living.

Madeleine was predeceased by a mother she adored, Alice (Bechard) Lajoie, and her father Ernest Lajoie whom she cared for dutifully in his last years. She also outlived her beloved two sisters Rita (Lajoie) Jaquith and Estelle (Lajoie) Brodeur. The three daughters of the Lajoie family were close in age, friends for life and made up the tight core of this large family. They shared absolutely everything when they were young, although clothes perhaps reluctantly. She loved her four brothers who passed before her: Normand Lajoie, Robert Lajoie Alfred Lajoie and Roland Lajoie. Freddv, especially could be counted on pitch in wherever and whenever needed to help Madeleine with the care of the parents with whom she lived during their last years.

Madeleine's early life, like that of so many children of French-Canadian immigrants working in the mills of Nashua, centered on the Catholic church, in her case St Louis de Gonzague. The family moved several times but always within the West End and never too far from the mill gates where most family members passed through to work at some point. This neighborhood, now referred to as the Tree Streets, was a vibrant multicultural area where mostly French but other languages were heard perhaps more often than English in backyards. Whatever tenement or multi-family home the Lajoie family rented Madeleine could always hear the bells of St. Louis. They established the rhythm of her early life, calling her to mass and holy days and ringing in the background throughout her student years at the nearby elementary, middle and high schools she attended. These parochial schools, all taught by nuns, provided the sound educational foundation and moral structure that served her well throughout life. The Catholic church remained an important influence and comfort throughout her life.

Her last years at Premier became increasingly difficult with limited mobility, chronic discomfort and declining cognitive capacity. But she never ever complained and took all challenges in stride thankful that she had lived a long, interesting and meaningful life. She was a trooper and the staff at Premier always considered "Maddie" one of their favorites.

Having put her younger brother through college Madeleine took a proprietary interest in his Army career and visited frequently to check on her investment. These trips took her throughout the US including Hawaii as well as Germany, France and Russia. In the process she became Jo Ann's closest friend and the favorite aunt always bearing gifts and a fair amount of advice, rarely solicited but never withheld. In fact her visits were always cherished and a grand-niece bearing Madeleine's name is a fitting family memorial to this lovely person. She was the matriarch of the large Lajoie clan and will be sorely missed.

There will be a Funeral Mass at St Louis de Gonzague Church followed by an Internment Service Ceremony at the St Louis de Gonzague Cemetery where Madeleine will be interred next to her parents. This will be held at a later date in March.