Madalene E. Paine

Madalene E. Paine, 100, of Springfield passed away on Wednesday morning December 6, 2017 at the Springfield Health & Rehab. Center.

Born in Worcester, Massachusetts on January 31, 1917, she was the daughter of Walter Lacillade and Laura ( Sparrow) Lacillade. As a child, she lived part of each year with her extended family in Montpelier and Barre, Vermont, until her family relocated to Springfield when she was nine years old. From that time onward, Springfield was her home. Even so, she spent many summers travelling to northern Vermont to spend time with her beloved cousins Katherine (McGrath) Sherman and Barbara McGrath and their mutual extended family.

As a young woman, Maddie worked in private service doing general housework for both the Damon and Hildebrandt families of Springfield. She subsequently was hired as an employee of the Jones and Lampson company. Originally hired as a cafeteria worker who pushed carts of food through the shop to distribute it to workers (she was one of three women assigned to this work), she rose to become the cafeteria’s assistant cashier and then its head cashier. During World War II, her shifts ran seven days a week and she often worked back-to-back shifts keeping her at J&L through both the day and the night.

Maddie met Lester E. Paine, Jr. of Providence, Rhode Island when he came to the Springfield area to work in a WPA Camp prior to the war. They married in December of 1945 after Lester returned from service in the Pacific Islands. It was a no-frills ceremony, and they spent the rest of their 49 years of married life arguing about what the exact date of their marriage ceremony had been. Maddie continued for a while to work at J&L as a part-time cashier, and she and Lester built their own home with their own hands in the Goulds Mills section of Springfield. Together they raised their two children and two grandchildren until Lester passed away in 1995.

Maddie’s hobbies included voraciously reading books (the “cozies” genre of mysteries were her favorite type) and exercising her outstanding cooking skills. Throughout her life, she was a caregiver to others. At various points when she was needed, she took into her home her mother, her only sister Pearl Lacillade Dana, her father-in-law Lester E. Paine Sr., and her maternal uncle Orlando Sparrow. During her husband’s final illness, she was his primary caregiver for 2 years. She was also instrumental in raising her two grandchildren, and her house was a permanent “second home” for them throughout their childhood.

She is survived by her daughter Linda Regan and her son-in-law Bruce Regan of Springfield, her son Richard E. Paine and his Husband John Shindler of Naperville, Illinois, her grandson Shane K. Regan of Brooklyn, NY., her granddaughter Shannon L. Regan of Portland, Maine, and numerous much beloved cousins (particularly the Sherman and McGrath families) living in northern Vermont.

A funeral service will be held at 11:00 AM on Monday December 11, 2017 at the Davis Memorial Chapel in Springfield, Vt. Reverend George Keeler will officiate. Burial will follow in the Oakland Cemetery in Springfield.

Friends may call at the Chapel on Monday from 10:00 – 11:00 AM.

In lieu of flowers donations may be made in her memory to the Springfield Humane Society 401 Skitchewaug Trail Springfield, Vermont 05156

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