Dorothea LaCasse passed away peacefully at the Redington Memorial Home in Skowhegan on Thursday July 29, 2021. Dot was born in Boston, Massachusetts on August 20, 1922 to Kenneth and Eva Josephine MacKenzie. She spent her early life in Stoneham, Massachusetts, graduating from Stoneham High in 1940.
After high school, Dot worked at the Liberty Mutual Insurance Company in Boston. In 1945, she joined the Cadet Nurse Corps and attended the Salem Hospital School of Nursing, graduating in 1948. She worked with the Salem Visiting nurses before settling in Skowhegan to work at the Redington Hospital until retiring in 1984.
Dot married Gerald LaCasse in 1951. They were married 66 years. She had three children, eight grandchildren and eight great grandchildren.
Dot was voted “Most Original” by her class at Stoneham High. No one argued with that
assessment. Family was always first, but she always had a passion for service and volunteerism and her list of service is extensive with some of her activities highlighted here. She was involved in Girl Scouts for over 55 years. Family members frequently still get told that “your Mom was my scout leader”. Dot was a longtime volunteer at the Food Cupboard. She was in the hospital auxiliary starting in 1970, staffed the hospital’s flu clinics and blood drives for many years and worked at the lobby desk at the hospital as a volunteer into her 90’s. She volunteered with Gerald at Camp Sunshine. She was on the board of the Redington Home, was an SAD 54 board member and a Skowhegan ballot clerk - all for many years.
Dot was an ardent supporter of and frequent spectator (into her 90’s) at Skowhegan High and University of Maine athletics. Red Sox radio broadcasts were often background “music” at home in summer months. For her 90th birthday, Mom was treated to a trip to Fenway to see the Sox. Despite growing up in the area, Mom had never been inside Fenway. She was rewarded with an on-field hug from Jacoby Ellsbury (eliciting a jealous response from her granddaughter).
Dot was predeceased by her husband Gerald in 2018 and by brothers Kenneth and Donald MacKenzie and sisters Evelyn Holden and Marilyn Mercer.
Dot leaves behind her immediate family of Jeff (Vicki) of Skowhegan, their son Matt (Melissa) and child Cason of St. Simons Island Georgia and daughter Lindsey of Boston; Barry (Dorothy) of Skowhegan, their daughter Heather Blanchet (Nick) and children Brynn and Gage of Skowhegan, daughter Beth Langley (Carey) and children Kai and Sawyer of Hampton, New Hampshire, and son Mike (Stephanie) and children Dean and Hank of Auburn, New Hampshire; Andrea Frazier (Russ) of Skowhegan, daughter Jenna Goodell (Nick Washburn) of Boston, son Daniel Goodell (Shana) and child Carter of South Carolina, and daughter Jaclyn Frazier of Boston. She also leaves behind sister-in-law Lois MacKenzie of Massachusetts and many nieces and nephews.
A funeral service for Dorothea will be held at the Federated Church in Skowhegan on Saturday August 14 at 2:00 PM. A reception will be held at that location following. Burial will be at the East Skowhegan cemetery on the Oak Pond Road.
The LaCasse family would like to give special thanks to the staff and residents of the Redington Memorial Home who made Mom’s two year stay there enjoyable even during the isolation period forced by the Covid pandemic. We would also like to give thanks to Beacon Hospice staff for the support and aid provided during Mom’s final days.
Arrangements are under the care and direction of Smart & Edwards Funeral Home, 183 Madison Ave., Skowhegan, Maine,fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.SmartandEdwardsFH.com for the LaCasse family..
In lieu of flowers, donations toward a memorial paver in Dorothea LaCasse’s name can be made to the Healing Garden at Redington-Fairview General Hospital through the hospital’s support services or public relations, PO Box 468, 46 Fairview Avenue, Skowhegan, ME. 04976.
SHARE OBITUARY
v.1.8.18