SOUTH PARIS — Maxine A. (Lapham) Sessions, 83, of South Paris, passed away Thursday, May 17, at her residence.

She was born in Norway on May 24, 1928, daughter of Leroy Ordell and Ida Mae (Hill) Lapham.

Maxine began school in Mechanic Falls but moved to Norway in 1937 after the death of her parents and sister. She lived there with her paternal grandmother, Sadie (Buck) Lapham and her uncles, Clyde W. and Leon S. Lapham. She attended Norway schools. She graduated from Norway High School where she achieved many academic and athletic honors.

On June 18, 1947, she married Elmer W. Sessions.

She was employed at Wilson’s Dollar Store, Norway Shoe Co., J.J. Newberry’s and the Norway Laundry. After her first child was born in 1951, she became a full-time homemaker.

The family moved to Aroostook County where they lived for eight years before returning to Norway.

In 1967, she began employment with SAD 17 at Oxford Hills High School as the library secretary and continued in that position for 30 years until she retired in 1997.

She was a member of the Second Congregational Church, Stephens Memorial Hospital Auxiliary and the Maine Association of Retirees.

Maxine’s interest included cooking, gardening, photography, scrapbooking and books. She collected cookbooks and was especially interested in books about health and nutrition. She loved babies and small children, beaches and the ocean, sunrises and sunsets, birds and animals, especially kittens.

She is survived by a son, Stephen Leroy Sessions and wife, Claire; four daughters, Cynthia and her husband, Dana E. Hall, Ruth-Anne and husband, Robert K. Logan, Jr., Victoria and husband, Paul Laird II, Susan and husband, Nelson G. Cairns; seven grandchildren, Nathan Sessions, Savannah Sessions, Derek Hall, Paul Laird, III, Joshua Laird, Trenton Cairns and Colton Cairns; three step-grandchildren, Robert A. Logan, Sarah Leavitt Smith and Lindsay Leavitt Sharkey; great-grandchildren, Isabelle Laird, Emma Laird, Karson Laird, Cedar Smith, Reed Smith, Charlotte Smith, Lila Sharkey, Alexandra Logan and two babies to be born in June 2012.

She was predeceased by her parents; a sister, Evelyn Lapham; her paternal and maternal grandparents; and several aunts, uncles and cousins.

Online condolences may be expressed to the family at www.oxfordhillsfuneralservices.com.