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BORN
1924
DIED
2020
FUNERAL HOME
Lorraine Morong Obituary
She was born in Nashua, NH on Oct. 24, 1924, the eldest daughter of Wilfred and Aurora Victorina (Gendreau) Barbeau. She was graduated from Anson Academy, North Anson, Maine, and from Skowhegan Business School, Skowhegan, Maine.
She married William H. Morong Jr. in 1944 and they moved to Oak Ridge, Tenn. where he was employed on the Manhattan Project. After the war he worked for General Electric; they moved to Middleton, Mass. where he worked at the GE plant in Lynn, then in 1949 to South Berwick, Maine when he transferred to the GE plant in Somersworth, N.H.
While living in South Berwick, Lorraine served on the town budget committee and in other civic capacities. She was also active in the Parent Teachers Association and with the Cub Scouts program.
In 1960 Lorraine signed on as a correspondent with the Portsmouth Herald to write a weekly column reporting news of the town. After moving to Madbury in 1966 she covered the Durham town news for the Herald for several years, then for six years reported the Madbury news for the Tri-Town Transcript (a weekly no longer extant). Since then she had been a correspondent for Foster's Daily Democrat; her last copy submitted to the Democrat was in March 2020 when she reported the results of the Madbury Town Meeting.
For ten years spanning the 1960s-70s, she ran a private clipping service of all N.H. newspapers, dailies and weeklies. She was also active in many social causes.
Besides her correspondent work, she was involved in the civic affairs of Madbury, including serving on the Zoning Board of Appeals for several years, most of them as chairman. She supported the Madbury Community Club and was a charter member of the Madbury Historical Society. For her advocacy of the town's First Aid Stabilization Team, she became known as "Ma FAST," serving F.A.S.T. both as an officer and on committees. In 1999, she initiated the raising of funds to build a state-of-the-art library in Madbury. The new facility opened in December 2019, nine months after ground-breaking, and Lorraine was asked to cut the ribbon. She also spearheaded the movement to get a ZIP Code for the town.
Lorraine and William (deceased in 1991) also took an active interest in the small summer village on Muscongus Island in Maine, where the family has owned a house since 1968. Her civic interests encompassed this community too, helping to document the history of and maintaining the archives of the island's vibrant 19th and early 20th Century fishing community.
She is survived by her five children, two of whom are married: four sons, William III, Bennett (wife Candace), Mark, and Dana; one daughter, Sally Morong Chetwynd (husband Phillip); seven grandchildren and two step-grandchildren, several of whom have spouses; eight great-grandchildren; one great-great-step granddaughter; and many nephews, nieces, and cousins. Her sister Roma Chute lives in Florida, and her sister Doris Rich lives in Oregon. Her sister Janet Wright of Florida predeceased her in 2017.
The family would like to thank the staff at Carriage Hill Assisted Living in Madbury for their tender care.
Those who wish to honor Lorraine's memory may donate to the Friends of the Madbury Library at 11 Town Hall Road, Madbury, NH 03823 (603-743-1400) http://www.madburylibrary.org/friends.asp email: fomln
Please go to www.taskerfh.com to sign the online guestbook.
To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
Memories and Condolences
for Lorraine Morong
Sponsored by Tasker Funeral Home - Dover.
Suzie McHarness
December 6, 2020
I remember when Aunt Lorraine came to visit us in Oregon in the early 80's. My mom (sister Doris) was staying with us so she stayed with us too. All the language she had was a tiny little suitcase. My three children were young. They remember too! It was as if Mary Poppins had showed up. When she opened that suitcase to pull out "Winnie The Pooh" for the kids , most of the rest of the contents were supplements!
You know what else she did? She reached down, put here hands on the floor and walked around the house like a bear! YES! on all fours!
I'm so grateful that I got to be at her 90th birthday party. I got a piece of her rasPberry pie! She always pronounced that P!
When I called her about the very cool pop-up dinosaur book I found for my grand-kids at the Goodwill bins, she knew the author.
She will be missed! She still inspires me to live life my way. It's Okay to like old things, and to hang into and fight for what I believe is worth fighting for.
My favorite quote of mine from Jackson Browne, "The only thing that survives is they way we live our lives." and did she live it! And what a gift has survived by her life!
I love you ! Aunt Lorraine! ~ Suzie
Bryn From Carriage Hill
December 3, 2020
Lorraine was such a sweetheart and I consider myself lucky to have been able to care for her. Sending love and condolences to the family at this time.
Bryn From Carriage Hill
December 3, 2020
Lorraine was such a sweetheart and I consider myself lucky to have been able to care for her. Sending love and condolences to the family at this time.
Jeff & Heather Smith and family
November 30, 2020
To the Morong family and especially Duffy, Amy and Aaron - it was with great sadness that I heard of your mom/grandmothers passing. As neighbors, I could easily spot Lorraine’s diminutive stature as she worked outside in her yard. She and Dana were similar in height until her very later years. But I knew better that she was larger than life - a strong, passionate and vital community member. She came by our farm yearly to fill several buckets full of “garden gold” and swore the horse manure compost is what nourished her flowers so fully. She always made me laugh when she’d put those stinky buckets in the back of her car and off she went on her mission to fertilize her gardens. They had to have smelled so strong on the ride back to her house. I’ve always loved looking across the field at her red farm knowing she so loved her family and home. She knew the value of hard work, kind words and being thrifty. It was good for the soul. And getting a loaf of her delicious bread was a treasure I’ll always remember her by. She was kind, thoughtful, generous, gracious, steadfast and a darn good neighbor! We will certainly miss her. Our family sends heartfelt sympathy for your loss.
Lorraine drives people to the poles...preserving democracy! She told me, she tohought this was 1976. This would have been the Jimmy Carter election.
Mayme Trumble
November 29, 2020
I couldn't resist sharing this one. Lorraine brought it over to my home one day and gave it to me, to show how long she had been doing politics.
Lorraine honored as "Queen of Madbury" And that she was!
Mayme Trumble
November 29, 2020
Lorraine was the best neighbor that I have ever had! And I have had many. Getting me involved in Madbury Community Club and the work for a library was one reason I admired her and the community she helped create. Madbury is special because of people like Lorraine and community will have Lorraine stories for a long time. She was honest, kind and driven to improve the lives of people around her. One story I love , is about the day she called me and asked to use my drier. Lorraine dried clothes the old fashioned way by hanging them in her barn on a clothesline. She told me she had a GREAT find...dozens of shoe strings, but they were wet from being rained on. A store had gone out of business and she was able to retrieve dozens and dozens of shoe strings that had been thrown away. Her goal was to dry them, resort them and give them to an orphanage in Maine. We dried and untangled shoe strings for a couple of days. The shoe strings were well received and free.
Kitty & Gray Cornwell
November 27, 2020
Lorraine was definitely part of 'the greatest generation'. Her practical advice, dry wit, and community presence cannot be replaced. Her life is an example to all of us how one person can make a difference in the lives of many. Her legacy will live on in the lives of her family and friends in Madbury and beyond. Our condolences to all who knew her.
John and Lynn Aber
November 27, 2020
I never met Lorraine, but enjoyed her columns for decades, including in the Transcript before moving to Durham, and right through to 2020 in Fosters. She gave us an honest, reassuring window into the life of a small NH town. We will make a contribution to the Madbury Library in her honor
Nancy Eichhorn
November 26, 2020
Lorraine welcomed me as an extended member of her family 25 years ago with open arms and an open heart. Her continued love and support has been a blessing in my life, and my family's life as well (she had a knack for finding the right book and/or article to share and mailed them cross country without hesitation). I valued my time with her and will cherish memories of moments we shared together and via letters. My condolences to her family and friends. Her physical presence in our lives will be missed, yet I believe that her spiritual energy remains, a gentle reminder that love transcends time and space when our hearts our open.
Salme Perry
November 25, 2020
Such a generous , good person! The world would be less without her but for the many she mentored. Grateful to have known her.
November 24, 2020
Duffy,
My condolences and what a wonderful and talented person.
I remembered times at your house in South Berwick and jumping off a platform to the deep snow.
Sincerely,
Joey Mulkern
michele hurd {Rondeau}
November 24, 2020
May God bless you and your family in this time of sorrow.
Myleta Eng
November 23, 2020
Duffy, Amy and Aaron,
I’m sorry for your great loss. Lorraine was quite an exceptional woman. She had a quiet graciousness about her. JP loved going to the island and told of simpler times there with no electricity, having to haul water from the well, neighborhood softball games and playing games by candlelight. I enjoyed reading her Madbury updates in Foster’s even though I lived in Durham. Hugs to you.
Myleta
Carol Bischoff
November 22, 2020
Lorraine did so much in the local Madbury community. She was always interested in what would make it a better place in which to live. She dedicated many hours to community work.
Linda (Curtis) Becker
November 22, 2020
To all of your Mother's children: I am reliving my childhood memories of being your neighbor from 1950-1960, living in the big old colonial at the corner of Vine & Brattle St. Lorraine was a close friend and confidante of my Mom, Teenie (Leontine) Curtis, and I smile at the thought of her driving around in her green VW bus with the curtains she made herself...long before it was all the rage in the 60's!! I rode the school bus with Billy, and he posed for me in a pastel portrait I did when I was taking art lessons. I still have it; he's wearing a Maine fisherman's yellow rain hat, and my UNH Art prof loved it. When my Mom died of cancer in the 80's, you mother sent me a beautiful note and a copy of the apple crisp recipe they both shared ~ in case it had been lost. And when I published "Cobwebs & Glitter", my childhood memoir in story poems, she sent me a copy of Foster's newspaper article about it, with warm congratulations.
Lorraine was forever a fierce, compassionate, and articulate advocate for what she believed in. You all must be so proud of her legacy ~ as I am proud to have known her. She will be sorely missed by all who are grateful for the gift of her spirit in our lives...RIP, Lorraine. You did, indeed, "smell the flowers while you were here."
Laura Ellis
November 22, 2020
So sorry for your loss, Dana
Nancy Parent
November 22, 2020
Duffy, my deep sympathy to you on your family on the death of your mother. I so enjoyed her column in the Fosters’s. Although I never met her, she sounded like quite a lady!
Jane Fanning Brown
November 22, 2020
My condolences to the family of Mrs. Morong. I remember her, as well as the family, while growing up in South Berwick. She always presented herself as a person who valued everyone and everything, as is demonstrated in the distinguished obituary.
CECELIA KELLIHER
November 22, 2020
I first met Lorraine at St. Thomas More parish in Durham when I was a student at UNH. I won a sweater and hat that she had knit and donated to the parish Christmas Fair. I also discovered at that same fair that she made soap, which my mother loved. Thank you, Lorraine, for the great memories! May God bless you always.
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