STANDISH – Helen Fairholm Rines Buckley Sawyer passed away peacefully at her beloved home on May 23, 2021. Helen was born in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire on March 5, 1930, the daughter of Norman and Isabel Rines. She attended elementary school there and moved to Merrimac, Massachusetts in 1945. After graduating from Merrimac High School, she attended Salem State College and majored in Business Education. She was employed for many years as a bookkeeper and served as Treasurer for the family-owned business of Bud Sawyer Inc. Helen was also employed as a bookkeeper at the E. A. Center Memorial Medical Building in Steep Falls and the Jones Museum of Glass and Ceramics in East Sebago. Always interested in promoting health care for rural areas, she served on of the Board of Trustees of the E. A. Center Memorial Medical Building, as Chair of the Board, Treasurer of the Women’s Auxiliary and Chair of its Scholarship Committee. Helen “nudged” many folks to academic heights with her intuitive Scholarship Committee support.
Helen was very active in the community and up until last year, kept a very busy social calendar. She was an active member of the Standish Grandiflora Garden Club, the Steep Falls Library Book Club and the Standish Historical Society. She greatly enjoyed gathering with her friends to play Cribbage, MahJong, Hand and Foot, Mexican Trains and Rummikub. Helen “cooked” Pumpkin Bread-Pudding, Shepard’s Pie, Fish Chowder, and Lobster Rolls were just a few of her culinary successes…especially the Lobster Rolls!! She enjoyed lunch with her friends and attended many theatrical productions. Helen “loved” an adventure….especially in a friend’s red VW convertible!!!!
Helen was a devoted woman of faith and a communicant of St. Matthew’s Church in Limerick and was active in their church fairs. Her life centered around faith, family and friends. She is not gone…she is already recruiting her “Hand and Foot” team with dear friends in Heaven.
Helen is predeceased by her first husband Leo C. Buckley; her husband Ronald M. (Bud) Sawyer; siblings Norma Charoux, Peggy Casazza and Gordon Rines; nephews Eddie Casazza and Robert Charoux; and son-in-law Steven York.
Helen is survived by her sister Shirley Mitchell; her children: Lynne and husband Mike Roughton and their children Chris and wife Abby; Heather and husband Patrick Schultz; Greg and wife Kelsey Adams; Leo C. (Jay) Buckley and Jean Schiller of Standish and his children Ryan and wife Lyra, Megan and her fiancé Greg Delbridge; Kathryn B. York of Portland and her son Tyler; and Maureen Buckley. She is also survived by her stepchildren Ronnie, Seth, and Micah Sawyer.
Helen’s great-grandchildren were the joy of her life and include Samuel and Skylar Roughton; Henry and Eleanor Schultz; Hudson Buckley; and Sawyer and Brooklyn York. Helen had a close relationship with her niece, Anne and her husband Jim Hurst, as well as her grand-daughter-in-law Cheryl.
A Memorial Mass will be held at St. Matthew’s Church on Dora Lane in Limerick on July 17th at 11am followed by burial at Riverview Cemetery in Alton, New Hampshire.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Steep Falls Library, PO Box 140, Steep Falls, ME 04085 and the E. A. Center Memorial Medical Building, c/o Rhonda Warren, PO Box 113, Steep Falls, ME 04085
Online condolence messages can be submitted at the Chad E. Poitras / Neal & York Funeral Home website, www.mainefuneral.com