Eleanore Legere

1930 - 2019

Eleanore Legere
January 23, 1930 - December 10, 2019

Mothers teach us to love, to see beauty, and help us take our place in the world. Eleanore was a mother to so many. She touched the lives of her students over her long tenure as a teacher at St. Bernard's and Leominster High Schools. Her passion for education will live on in her children and the students she inspired.

Born in Fitchburg in 1930 to Edna Rafuse and Guy Mackey, she lived most of her early years in Amherst New Hampshire on a mink farm. She moved back to Leominster in elementary school joining aunts and uncles on her mother's side. She attended May A. Gallagher Junior High School, graduating from Leominster High School in 1948.

Eleanore excelled in school and had a passion for sports and the piano. During her high school years, she participated in basketball, cheerleading, student government, and drama productions. She studied at Becker Junior College to be a medical secretary, and spent many years working at Mass Electric.

In 1953 she married Louis (Louie) Legere and they had three children. Eleanore and Louie loved skiing with friends at Stowe VT and Tuckerman's Ravine in NH. They enjoyed water skiing at Spec pond in Lancaster too. Later with children, family ski trips to Crotched Mountain or Sunapee became a Sunday ritual for several years. The family spent many wonderful years at 14 Doyle Street in Leominster and summers at Spec Pond with Eleanore's mother Edna and beloved stepfather Leo O'Donnell.

Eleanore furthered her education at Fitchburg State College and became a full-time teacher after many years as a substitute teacher at May A. Gallagher and Carter Junior High Schools. She subsequently became a permanent teacher at the high school level. Eleanore went beyond being an educator in the classroom, acting as a faculty advisor in student government, the Fine Arts Club,and school musicals. She organized trips to cultural sites and events in Boston and New York City, as well as Europe. She was awarded the Outstanding Teaching Achievement Award from Clark University in Worcester in 1992.

Eleanore spent the last 10 years living in West Linn, OR close to her daughter Elise and her family. She is predeceased by her husband Louie of 53 years. Eleanore leaves her three children and their families: Eric Legere of Leominster and his wife Pat O'Malley; Jimmy Legere and his wife Susan of Newmarket NH and their three children, Jake Legere and his wife Joanna Legere of Lake Mary FL, Alaina Legere and her husband Andrew Schaefer of Hanover NH and Olive Legere of South Portland ME; Elise Legere and her husband Jim Mitchell of West Linn OR and their two children, Laura Mitchell and her husband Edward Kilgarriff of Portland OR, and Cameron and Sara Mitchell of West Linn.

Eleanore also had three great-grandchildren. Declan Louis Mitchell Kilgarriff of Portland OR, Emerson Rose Mitchell of West Linn, and Nolan James Legere of Lake Mary.