BIDDEFORD – Précille Marie Grondin Beebe, 84, of Biddeford, and most recently a resident of Riverwoods Durham, passed away on August 8, 2021, in Durham, N.H.

Précille was born in 1936 in Biddeford, to parents Oscar J. and Corona Bergeron Grondin. She was the youngest of seven, an athletic tomboy known to many by her nickname “Pistol Pete”. She attended Academie Sainte Anne in Marlborough, Mass. where she served as class president all four years. She graduated from Rivier College in Nashua, N.H. and received her master’s degree in French from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind.

Précille raised her family in Mechanicsburg, Pa. and taught French at Bishop McDevitt High School in Harrisburg, Pa. She also worked for various government agencies and ran her own tax preparation business. Upon returning home to Biddeford in 1997, she worked for Prescott Metal, a Grondin family business.

She dedicated her life to serving others and tirelessly sought ways to improve the world around her. Her many volunteer commitments included literacy work with prison inmates, teaching English as a Second Language to immigrants, and working at the Saint Vincent de Paul Thrift Shop. She had a deep connection to the Good Shepherd Sisters through her sister Rita, supporting their work and the many other ways that her siblings served those in need, including Rotary with Babe and Joe, and Literacy Volunteers with her sister Theresa.

She often went beyond her volunteering duties to help those in need directly, purchasing eyeglasses for her student’s children or a washing machine for a newly arrived immigrant family. She loved to tell the story of her night in jail following a peaceful march for civil rights in Georgia in the late 1960s.

Précille was an accomplished pianist and played her treasured piano until her final days. She loved to sing and was a longtime member of the Tri-City Community Chorus. She loved being outdoors: working in her garden, shoveling snow, tending her blueberry bushes, or endless games on the beach with her grandchildren. Most of these activities continued well into her 80s. When she wasn’t outside, she was likely drinking a cup of tea and expertly working a jigsaw puzzle or beating those half her age in a game of cribbage.

She was predeceased by her parents; and siblings Sister Rita Grondin, Conrad “Babe” Grondin, Joseph Grondin, Therese Bouthot, Robert Grondin, and Normand Grondin.

She is survived by her children Lisa Beebe Jennings of Exeter, N.H. and Jonathan Beebe and his wife Elizabeth of London, UK; grandchildren Zachary Jennings, Erik Curcio, Niko Beebe, Markos Beebe, and Daphne Beebe; and many nieces and nephews.

A funeral mass will be held Friday, August 27 at 1 p.m. at St. Brendan’s Chapel, 40 Lester Orcutt Blvd. in Biddeford Pool. Précille will be buried alongside her parents and siblings at St. Joseph’s Cemetery in Biddeford.

In lieu of flowers, please consider honoring Précille with a donation to a charity focused on serving those in need.

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