Marie Esther Lavigne Fuller

MADISON – Marie Esther Lavigne Fuller passed away peacefully, at 91, on January 7, 2025, in the East Madison home of her daughter and son-in-law Sarah and Troy Malbon, where she had been living for a little over a year.

Marie cared for her husband and six children as if she were born to it – always giving of herself, always there for us, for as long as she lived. She became known for her baking – her cookies in school lunches were bartering gold, her donuts are family treasures, and her pies are legendary. Her homes were immaculate, and she made memorable meals even though she knew nothing about how to be a homemaker before she married. She learned by watching her mother-in-law and by trial and error. We recently learned that she had been writing a story about her life as a young Navy wife which we read aloud with her just a week ago, learning through her wonderful storytelling how she persevered with small children and very little money. Sewing clothes, walking to the grocery store with kids in a wagon, feeding hungry Navy bachelors our dad brought home at all hours, making a safe and welcoming haven from scratch. This was how she learned to make every place we ever lived that way.

Marie was sharp and enterprising – after one year at Westbrook Junior College, she married Vaughn Fuller, her South Portland High School sweetheart, and followed him around the country as he joined the Navy, went to grad school and settled into his teaching career. We learned she read all his grad school books and typed all his papers, often rising in the middle of the night when he had finished one to type it out – without the benefit of easy corrections, of course. When we were younger, she sold pies at a local restaurant in Damariscotta; as we got older, she started substitute teaching in Yarmouth, where we lived for 13 years. She was active on town councils and in town offices. She worked at Berry, Dunn & MacNeil and started Tidy Homes, a cleaning business, and when Dad retired from teaching, opened The Foxcroft Bed and Breakfast in Dover-Foxcroft. She again made pies for a local restaurant (the Thistle Inn) and worked at a local law office. She always made it all look so easy. When we were older and began doing our own baking, we learned that having a pie in the oven 15 minutes after it was requested so it would be ready when your boyfriend showed up on the doorstep wasn’t a feat we could easily duplicate (if at all!).

Marie loved books and meeting new people. She loved her dear, lifelong friends and those she made more recently. She loved entertaining and going out to eat or to a play. She always dressed well, even at home, and would never miss an appointment with her hairdresser. She loved a good joke, was known for her “That’s so Mom!” comments and passed her dry wit on to her children. She called herself a stoic and took what life handed her with little complaint.

Marie was our family treasure – our little windup woman who wouldn’t quit. Our “jello” woman who molded herself to our needs always. Our expert on cooking, our reading buddy, our soft cushion to land on, our confidant and advisor. We were grateful for it all and will miss her more than we can say.

Marie is predeceased by her parents, siblings and Vaughn, her husband of 68 years, and survived by her six children – Martha Hulshoff and husband Dirk of Balston Lake, N.Y.; Jesse Fuller and wife Eva of Murphy, N.C.; Thomasin Marietta and husband Pete of South Portland; John Fuller and wife Donna of Rumford; Amy Fuller, DDS and husband Greg Lorello of Scarborough; and Sarah Malbon and husband Troy of East Madison. She also leaves twelve grandchildren: Venessa, Catherine, William, David, Luke, Sara, Gordon, Ben, Cooper, Caroline, Abby and Emma; and five great-grandchildren, Jaeden, Dieter, Gus, Orson and Felix.

Her children welcome you to Marie’s visiting hours at Hobbs Funeral Home, 230 Cottage Road, South Portland, Maine, on Sunday, January 26, from 1-3 p.m. No flowers or donations, please.