Front Page News
May 8, 2013
Elsie May (Foss) Morse
Elsie May (Foss) Morse, 70 of Pittsfield went to sleep in
Christ Saturday, May 4 at the Hospice House in Concord.
Elsie, the daughter of Robert Foss and Emma (Carson) Foss was born
on February 9, 1943 at the Giles Home in Pittsfield, N.H. She
graduated as Valedictorian in 1961 from Pittsfield High School,
earned a Bachelors Degree from Aurora College and completed her
Masters in Reading at the University of New Hampshire.
Elsie was a quilter, a quilter of material and a quilter of life.
She gloriously pieced together a life that combined a professional
life with that of a loving wife, mother, sister and friend. She
married her husband, Art, in 1964. Her teaching career began in 1965
at East Aurora High School, Aurora Illinois and ended at Walker
School in Concord, N.H. She began her second profession as editor of
the Suncook Valley Sun when she and her husband purchased the local
weekly newspaper in 1985. Elsie got great pleasure as editor in
bringing to the readership the triumphs and joys of the residents of
the several towns serviced by the paper. Many will recall her piece
on the travails of traveling over the frost heaves of Catamount
Mountain.
Another fabric of the quilt of Elsie’s life was her community
service and involvement. She recently resigned as chair of the
Trustee of Trust Funds due to this marathon called cancer. Else
served as a member of the Pittsfield Budget Committee, Bicentennial
Committee, PCDC, Women of Rotary and the Board of the Pittsfield
Players to name a few of her community efforts. She was a fine actor
and accomplished director. One of her most difficult roles was that
of the statue in “A Funny Thing Happen On The Way To The Forum” as
she was required to remain on stage for one half of the entire play
without ever speaking. Elsie was a mentor for other actors and
directors and reveled in the accomplishments of those that she had
nudged along.
Another fat quarter that Elsie cherished, was her love of the water.
Each season on Jenness Pond was highlighted by a milestone. The low
rising moon shivering across the groaning ice marked winter. The
haunting call of the loons return signaled spring. The barbeques,
family gatherings and 4th of July celebrations filled the summer.
The quietness and turning leaves made autumn a favorite. The many
vacations at the ocean, required only that Else be able to hear the
waves meeting the shoreline.
Her quilter’s candy was traveling and reading. Whether journeying in
Europe, Canada, the Caribbean or exploring the mountains and valleys
of Vermont and New Hampshire, she never visited a locale that she
did not want to return to some day. As for reading, Else was a
voracious reader. She once said “I feel lonesome without a book in
my hands” (that’s a book, not an e-reader she would want you to
know).
The batting to Elsie’s life quilt, the center that gave warmth and
thickness, was her Christian faith. As a teenager, she was a member
of the choir at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church. As a mom, she taught
Sunday School at the Second Advent Christian Church. As a senior,
she cherished the “Wild Wednesday Women” of the Dorcas Guild at the
First Congregational Church.
The binding of this quilt was family. The family of aunts, uncles
and cousins at the farm on Webster Mills Road, her three children
and six grand children on through the nephews and nieces of the
Lanks, Adamses, Pinkhams, and Stimmells bound her life with purpose
and joy.
Elsie is survived by Art, her husband of 48 years, her son Ross
Morse and his wife Tracy and grandchildren Trinity and Ryder, son
Dwight Morse and his wife Christine and grandchildren Dillon and
Ryan, daughter Meggin Dail and her husband Joel and grandchildren
Earnhardt and Carson, and her sisters Betty Pinkham and Janice
Stimmell.
Calling hours will be held at the Perkins & Pollard Funeral Home, 60
Main St., Pittsfield, NH on Thursday, May 9, from 6 to 8 pm. A
memorial service will be held Saturday, May 11 at 10 am at the First
Congregational Church, 24 Main St., Pittsfield.
Interment will be held at the convenience of the family.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Hospice House,
Concord Regional VNA, 30 Pillsbury St., Concord, NH 03301-3502.
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