1931 – 2015

AUBURN — Claire M. Filliettaz, 83, a resident of Schooner Estates, formerly of Lewiston and Peaks Island, passed away peacefully Saturday, July 18, at her residence, following a three-year period of failing health.

She was born in Lewiston, July 19, 1931, a daughter of Brig. Gen. Charles M. and Catherine F. (Conley) Filliettaz. She attended the former St. Joseph’s Elementary School and was a 1949 graduate of Lewiston High School, where she had also been a member of the LHS Marching Band and the girls’ basketball and softball teams.

Following high school, she was a 1953 graduate from the University of Maine, majoring in home economics. She then began employment for seven years with New England Telephone and Telegraph Co. until 1961. It was at that time she began her career teaching mathematics and algebra at the former Webster Junior High School in Auburn. In 1963, Claire received her master’s degree in education from the University of Maine at Orono and later received points beyond her master’s degree in mathematics at Colgate University in 1965, as well as Xavier University in 1969.

During her teaching career, she was also very active in the Auburn Teachers Association, having served as a negotiator for Auburn teachers’ union contracts. After a 25-year career of teaching, she retired as a math teacher from Auburn Middle School in 1987.

Claire was an independent woman who loved traveling with family and friends to Europe and around North America, especially Florida in her later years. She introduced alpine skiing to her nieces and nephews and supported them fervently, which resulted in them all becoming lifelong ski enthusiasts. She was a former member of the National Ski Patrol, having patrolled at Lost Valley Ski Area back in the late 1960s and early 1970s. She also took part in the opening ceremonies of the 1971 Sugarloaf Mountain Tall Timber Classic Alpine World Cup as a National Ski Patrol member forerunner.

In 1976, Claire invested in an island property on Peaks Island, affectionately known as “Just-A-Mere Cottage,” where she introduced her siblings and their families to island living. She and her early childhood friend, Monique Levesque, shared their island cottage during summer vacations with their families as well as hosting several summer LHS Class of 1949 reunions at their island home. It was on Peaks Island that they developed a long list of great island friends, as well as their fellow island parishioners of St. Christopher Church, where both Claire and Monique served as Eucharistic ministers.

In 2011, Claire returned to Lewiston to live with her sister and brother-in-law, Joan and Paul Lynch. Monique also returned to her surviving family to live with her sister, Denise Sprinkle, in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Claire is survived by one sister, Joan M. Lynch of Lewiston; two brothers, Henry L. Filliettaz and wife, Betty, of Hampden, and Richard B. Filliettaz and wife, Sylvia, of Cape Neddick; three nieces, Karen Perry, Susan Chaitin and Mary Beth LaBarre; seven nephews, James, Brian and Kevin Lynch, along with Chuck, Patrick, Peter, and Michael Filliettaz; as well as 14 grandnieces and grandnephews. She is also survived by her longtime childhood friend, Monique Levesque.

Besides her parents, she was predeceased by her very close aunt, Louise E. Conley; one brother, Daniel H. Filliettaz; one sister, Mary E. “Betty” Crowley; and one brother-in-law, Paul R. Lynch.

Claire’s family would like to thank first and foremost Nicole Sylvester, who was Claire’s caregiver prior to Schooner Estates, who also cared for her after entering Schooner with such gentle kindness, as did her other fellow professional staff members at Schooner Estates Memory Unit, including Amy, Vicki, Lucy, Nadine, Carol, Leissa, Emily and Melissa, as well as Chris, the repairman. Also special thanks go out to her medical team, Amy Bergeron, NP and Dr. Ray Tardif, as well as the wonderful visiting nurses of Androscoggin Home Health and Hospice.

Online condolences and sharing of memories may be expressed at www.lynchbrothers.com.

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