GARDINER — Katherine “Kay” Cusick Lavallee, 93, of Gardiner died Saturday Oct. 22, 2011, at the Heritage Living and Rehabilitation Center in Winthrop. She was born in Farmingdale on July 23, 1918, a daughter of Thomas and Margaret Burns Cusick.
Katherine graduated from Gardiner High School Class of 1936 and Gates Business School 1937. Kay started the first nursery school in Gardiner, The Happy Times Nursery School, operating it for seventeen years. After her husband Vincent Lavallee died in 1978, she went to work at Central Street School as a teacher aide until her retirement. Kay was a lifelong communicant of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Gardiner serving as a Eucharistic Minister and various other commissions.
She enjoyed flower gardening, reading and her many friends. Kay also enjoyed traveling, especially her two trips to Ireland. She dedicated her life to family, her work with children and her church.
Kay was predeceased by her husband Vincent Lavallee, her son Thom Lavallee, her granddaughter, Johnna Ann Lavallee, her beloved sister Margaret and husband Leland Arno.
She is survived by her son John Lavallee and his wife Susan of Gardiner; her daughters Marianne Ware of Auburn, and Margaret Scally and her husband Bruce of Wiscasset; daughter-in-law Deanne Lavallee of Gardiner, her special nieces Elizabeth Arno of Farmingdale and Katherine Arno Smith and her husband Olin of Freeport; grandchildren Paul Lavallee and his wife Sarah of Vassalboro, Michael Lavallee of Gardiner, Mary Kate MacVicar and her husband Chris of Hillsborough, N.J., Sarah Scally and her husband Anthony Stevenson of Augusta, Emily Booth and her husband Andrew of Bath, Amanda McIntire and her husband Michael of Lebanon, Karen Murphy and her husband Greg of Pittston, Vincent Lavallee and wife Colleen of Albany, N.Y., and Michelle Lavallee and fiance Ben King of Bath, Rozalind Smith of Freeport, great-grandchildren, Jacob and Kaitlyn Lavallee, Abigail and Lillian MacVicar, Manuel Stevenson, Sophie and Anna Booth, Ella McIntire, Thomas and Oliver Murphy, Keira Lavallee.
Visiting hours will be held Tuesday, Oct. 25, from 2 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. at Staples Funeral Home, 53 Brunswick Ave., Gardiner. A Mass of Christian burial will be celebrated Wednesday Oct., 26, at 10 a.m. at St. Joseph Church in Gardiner. Burial will be beside her husband in the Maine Veterans Memorial Cemetery Civic Center Drive Augusta.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her memory to the Children’s Room at the Gardiner Public Library 152 Water St., Gardiner 04345
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