Elsie McGillicuddy

    McGillicuddy, Elsie, 64, August 10, 2012.  Arrangements by Plummer Funeral Home, Augusta.
    AUGUSTA – Elsie “Ellie” Estella (Pelton) McGillicuddy, age 64, of Augusta, died suddenly and unexpectedly on Friday, August 10, 2012, at her summer residence in East Winthrop, Maine, of an apparent heart attack.
    Ellie was born on May 8, 1948, in Fall River, Massachusetts to William J. Pelton and Elsie (Bellows) Pelton where she attended local schools, graduating from high school at Mount St. Mary’s. Her paternal grandmother was Nora Staunton, an immigrant from Westport, County Mayo, Ireland who worked in the mills in Fall River, Massachusetts. On the maternal side, she  was a descendant of Jonathan Bellows who came from England to the Boston area in 1638 and was one of the founders of Marlboro, Massachusetts. She was also a descendant of Aquila Chase who came from Chesham, England, in 1642 and was the first man to sail a European ship up the Merrimac River, being a founding father of Newburyport, Massachusetts.
    Ellie earned a bachelor’s degree in Education from the University of Maine at Orono and a nursing degree from the University of Maine at Augusta. She married Charles Joseph McGillicuddy, a Vietnam veteran from Houlton, Maine, on Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1971. She worked in a variety of teaching and nursing positions, most recently serving as the State House Occupational Nurse for the Augusta Complex from 1990 to 2002. Starting in 1981 and continuing for several years, she and her husband sponsored a number of Cambodian refugee families in the Augusta area. She became conversational in the Cambodian language and was able to discuss child care, food preparation and health related issues. She had been active as a Civil War reenactor, portraying either a nurse or the famous Mary Livermore, who had lived in Fall River briefly and was the founder of the Western Branch of the Sanitary Commission during the war. She was the Lecturer of the Manchester Grange at the time of her death.
    Ellie is survived by her husband and by her four daughters: Madigan Bittersweet McGillicuddy and her husband Taric Mirza of Atlanta, Georgia; Ruth Alana Louk and her husband, David Louk and their children, Hanna, Olivia, and Daniel of Rowlett, Texas; Grace Deerspring Thomas and her husband, Adrian Thomas, and their daughter, Genevieve of Hallowell, Maine; and Molly Cahir Quintal and her husband, Aaron Quintal, and their sons George and Abraham of East Winthrop. She is also survived by her step-mother, Catherine Pelton of Zephyrhills, Florida, by her brother, William Pelton of Norton, Massachusetts, and by her sister, Mary Agnes Murphy and her brother Paul Pelton, both of Fall River, Massachusetts. Also by many nieces and nephews, cousins, other relatives, and her two special friends, Jill Estabrook of Augusta, and Mary Alice Swiger of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
    Ellie was predeceased by her parents and her brother, Peter Pelton and her brother-in-law Thomas McGillicuddy, and his wife, Dina McGillicuddy.
    Visitation hours will be on Friday, August 17, 2012, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Plummer Funeral Home, 16 Pleasant Street, Augusta. The next day, Saturday, August 18, 2012, at 11 a.m., a memorial service will be held at the Unitarian Universalist Community Church, 69 Winthrop Street, Augusta. Rev. Carrie Johnsen will officiate. Following the service a reception will be held at the Manchester Grange Hall, 953 Western Avenue, Manchester, Maine. Cremation will take place after the service. The ashes will be dispersed by the family at a date and place not yet determined.
    Ellie will be missed by all who knew her, by all the lives she touched, by all of her thoughtful gifts and by her strong commitment to truth and social justice.
    Condolences, photos and memories may be shared at www.plummerfh.com.