FRYEBURG — Madeline (Maddy) Elizabeth (Pritchard) Bassett, 77 years old, of Fryeburg, Maine, passed away at home surrounded by her loving family on November 16, 2023 after living with dementia for many years.

Madeline was born on January 1, 1946, to John Michael and Margaret Catherine (Foley) Pritchard in Norwood, Mass. She grew up in nearby Westwood, the youngest of four children. Madeline graduated from Westwood
High School in 1963 and went on to earn her Associates and BS degrees in Business (2008) from Husson University, in South Portland, while working full time.

After her high school graduation, Madeline worked at John Hancock in Boston. Maddy shared many stories with her children from this time, including how she, running late and to her children’s delight and disbelief, would dash across the tracks in high heels to get the commuter train into Boston. She soon met her future husband, Brian, while washing her brother’s car in the driveway. The two grew up a block apart but didn’t hit it off until that day. They wed on July 10, 1965, and soon started their family of three children: Maria, Tracy and Justin. After slightly more than a decade, Maddy and her family moved to Fryeburg to be closer to the family camp. She soon started working at the Superintendent’s Office of MSAD #72, where she remained until retiring in 2013. In her over 30-year career, Maddy worked with five different school superintendents, expanding her role from front office staff, to assistant to the superintendent, and finally to business manager. She was instrumental in planning and aiding in the building of the new Molly Ockett Middle School. Maddy was a member of the Maine Association of School Business Officials and served on the Executive Council.

Maddy’s faith was a central part of her life. She was part of the initial group of worshipers to imagine and build the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church in Fryeburg. She was the church’s first organist and choir director and continued her involvement in the music program, sharing the music ministry in later years, until after her retirement.

Loving music from a very early age, Maddy taught herself harmonica, played the clarinet for the Westwood High School Band and later played organ and piano, studying voice and piano with various teachers. She promoted music learning at the C.A. Snow School in Fryeburg through the formation of the Pequawket Valley Music Association, which lives on with The Frank Petillo Memorial Excellence in Arts Award at Fryeburg Academy. She passed along her love of music to her children and informally taught her granddaughters to play the piano. She sang in several local choirs through the years, including the Ralph Farris Chorale, White Mountain Musical Arts, Fryeburg Ecumenical Choir, and others.

Maddy had a wide range of hobbies and interests, learning many new things over the years, from sewing to basket weaving, gardening to knitting, drawing and watercolor painting to fly fishing, and baking to kayaking. She cherished her time with her many friends, laughing, getting into hilarious hijinks with some, going to the PSO, and just talking and sharing. She was also very active in many local organizations. She was always ready to lend a hand and listen to those in need. However, she most loved spending time with her three granddaughters, baking gingerbread cookies, taking them shopping or to their annual trip to the Fryeburg Fair, gifting them American Girl dolls and accessories matching their interests, and especially spending time with them at the family camp.

Maddy is loved by her devoted husband, Brian; her children and their spouses Maria (Kai Han) Bassett, Tracy (Andrew) Carter, and Justin (Jennifer) Bassett; her granddaughters Heather Jackson, Isabel Bassett and Rebecca Bassett; her brother John Pritchard, her sister Dorothy Broderick, and many nieces and nephews.

Maddy is predeceased by her father, her mother, her sister Marjorie Garrison, and her sister-in-law Ann Foster.

Family and friends may attend visitation at Wood Funeral Home, 9 Warren Street, Fryeburg, on Friday, December 1, 2023, 5-7 p.m. Funeral Mass Services will be held at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church in Fryeburg on Saturday, December 2, 2023, at 11 a.m.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Alzheimer’s Association or to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Online condolences may be shared with her family at www.woodfuneralhome.org