Laconia------Jane A. (Batstone) Bergeron, age 72 of Taylor Street, passed away peacefully on Wednesday, February 15, 2017.
Born May 26, 1944, in Leominster, MA, to the late Wilbert N. and Anne L. (Dalzell) Batstone, Jane graduated from Leominster High School and attended colleges in Massachusetts and Virginia, with an emphasis on biology for pre-med studies and journalism.
Most of her career was spent writing and selling advertising for radio stations in MA, PA, and NH, and newspapers in NH, including the Granite State Vacationer, the Lakes Region Times, the NH Outdoorsman, Good Times Magazine, and from May of 1992 – May of 2012 The Weirs Times. She also held several positions in hospitals in MA, NY, PA, and NH.
Jane’s greatest treasures were her two beloved sons, and she spent many hours involved with them through Lou Athanas Basketball, Gilford soccer and baseball, Sacred Heart & Gilford Cub Scouts & Boy Scouts, and learning to ski with them at Gunstock. She was a dedicated and tenacious single mother that always put the interests of her children before her own.
Jane was first diagnosed with lung disease in 1983, and as her health deteriorated over the years, she was extremely proud to be a volunteer speaker for the American Lung Association, and the New England Organ Bank. She spoke to groups of all ages regarding addiction and smoking cessation, pulmonary health, the lung transplant program, and organ donor awareness.
She also has a passion for community involvement, and was a dedicated volunteer for the March of Dimes, Laconia Main St. Program, BIBA and Laconia Altrusa. She loved to travel, paint, read and attend live theatre from Boston to community productions, especially musicals. She also loved visiting craft fairs with her buddies, and watching her grandchildren participate in sports, school and dance activities. Jane was also particularly fond of her classmates from Leominster.
After many years of illness, Jane was listed for a lung transplant in 2000 through Mass. General Hospital and the New England Organ Bank. She was extremely fortunate to receive a double lung transplant on October 31, 2003, and was very grateful to her donor’s family for their generosity that extended her life by 13 years. Jane wanted the following included in her obituary, “A donor’s decision and her family’s support game me back my life and freed me from the life of depending on an oxygen tank. If you wish to honor me please become an organ donor and make sure you tell your family your wishes.”
Jane considered members of the Lung Transplant Support Group at Mass. General to be among her closet friends, and dearly loved her Altrusa sisters.
Jane leaves her son, Bradley and his wife Jodi of Laconia along with their children Blake and Renee. A second son, Randy also of Laconia; her brother, Donald and his wife, Patricia of the Villages in Florida, and nieces, Cheryl of Arkansas, and Robyn and her two sons, Austin and Camden of Tennessee.
There will be no Calling Hours.
A Funeral service will be held Saturday, February 25, 2017 at 3:00pm at the Wilkinson-Beane-Simoneau-Paquette Funeral Home 164 Pleasant Street, Laconia, NH using the Carriage House entrance.
For those who wish, the family suggest that memorial donations be made to the New England Organ Bank 60 1st Ave, Waltham, MA 02451 (http://neob.org/monetary-donations) or to the Wounded Warriors Project, P.O. Box 758516, Topeka, Kansas 66675-8516 (https://support.woundedwarriorproject.org).
Wilkinson-Beane-Simoneau-Paquette Funeral Home & Cremation Services 164 Pleasant Street, Laconia, NH is assisting the family. For more information and to view an online memorial please visit www.wilkinsonbeane.com.