HIRAM- Norine Bucknell, age 92, passed away on May 22, 2026, at the Gorham House. She was born in Sumner, Maine, to Clarence and Della (Bryant) Ring. She proudly graduated from Farmington Teachers College (UMF) in 1956. She moved to Cornish after graduation and taught Home Economics at Cornish High School. In 1957, Norine married a local, Harold Bucknell.
Norine raised their four children and worked the farm, but she never stopped teaching. All of her kids learned how to sew, cook, can or freeze, grow things and so much more. She gladly made food for Grange suppers, made snacks for her children' s classrooms, or any gathering Harold was attending! She was a dispatcher for the Sacopee Rescue and Cornish Fire Department. Norine’s homemade donuts and muffins were always a hit–after a late-night fire call or before heading out to plow snow. She served on the School Board after her kids graduated, served her town during elections, and was a lifetime member of the Eastern Star. She wrote two strawberry cookbooks from the fields of the family-run Ossipee River Farm. While Norine sewed, quilted, knit, and did other hand-crafts, in the late 1970s she tried rug hooking. She became very accomplished at it, creating well over 100 pieces for herself, her kids, her grandkids and her husband. She shared her talent by teaching adult ed classes, showing her work at area fairs, being a member of the Tin Pedlars of Maine group, helping create a local social hooking group, Mainely Woods, and helping so many learn this fiber art. She always said that rug hookers are some of the nicest people around.
Norine is survived by her children: son Ray Bucknell and his wife Ellen of Gorham, daughter Marcia Gilpatrick and her husband Sam of Hiram, daughter Rachel Johns of Wolfeboro NH; six grandchildren–Nathan (Victoria), Adam, Travis (Meghan), Sabrina (Justin), Sebastian (Ally), Angelica; she was predeceased by her husband of 69 years, Harold, a son, Warren Bucknell, a son-in-law, Steven Johns, and her six siblings.
Visiting hours will be held on Thursday, June 11, from 2 - 4 PM at the Poitras, Neal & York Funeral Home, 71 Maple St., Cornish. Burial will be at Riverside Cemetery in Cornish with her husband Fred.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to either the Cornish Fire Department (PO Box 631, Cornish ME 04020) or the SAD#55 Warren H. Bucknell Scholarship, Superintendent’s Office, 137 South Hiram Rd, Hiram ME 04041.