SABATTUS – Yvonne Vachon, 92, of Sabattus, died on Tuesday, May 28, 2019, at The Lamp, DLTC, in Lisbon with her family at her side. She was born in Lewiston on Nov. 3, 1926, to Napoleon Hamel and Delina (Gagne) Hamel. She was the youngest of 13 children.

She was educated locally in Lewiston schools. She worked at Bates Mill prior to her marriage to Leon Vachon of Sabattus. She and Leon were married on April 12, 1947 for 57 years and lived in Sabattus where they owned a dairy farm. Leon passed on June 10, 2004. Together they worked the farm and raised five children.

She was a member of Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Church and the American Legion Women’s Auxiliary of Sabattus.

Yvonne and Leon built a camp at Tacoma Lake in Litchfield where family and friends were always welcome. She enjoyed the outdoors, swimming, fishing, boating, gardening and canning. She loved music, singing and dancing. She was a 300 point candlepin bowler and won lots of cribbage tournaments. She was the best cook in the neighborhood. Everyone loved haying season and the wonderful meals that she prepared for family and friends who had worked in the fields. Her passion was to feed people. Anyone entering her kitchen did not leave without eating something she made. She worked hard but loved every minute. She loved her family and told them often. She was very proud of her children and their families.

After retirement, Leon and Yvonne bought a camper and traveled for ten years. They traveled across the United States several times and visited every national park. They traveled to Hawaii, Alaska, Canada and Mexico too. She kept a diary on all her trips. She also enjoyed traveling with her two sisters, Irene and Jeannette, and sister in-law, Mary.

She loved to sew and made everyone in the family beautiful quilts. She also enjoyed babysitting her grandchildren and feeding them. They never wanted to leave the farm when their parents went to pick them up. All of her five children built their homes and raised their families on the farm and family was always around to help out whenever needed. She was the rock of the family and held the family together.

Later in life she had dementia and didn’t remember her children but they continued to visit almost daily. She was a wonderful wife, mom, grand-mother and great-grand-mother and will be sadly missed. She took her son Dan’s hand a while back and squeezed it and told him, “Squeeze the devil out and hold on to something good”. We never knew when she would say something we could understand.

Survivors include her five children. sons, Daniel Vachon and wife Brenda, John Vachon and wife Lucy, daughters, Diane Bergeron and husband Steve, Jeannie (Gigi) Davin, Anita Stewart and husband Curtis; 12 grand-children; 22 great-grandchildren; one sister in-law, Christine Dumais; and many nieces and nephews.

The family wishes to give our sincere thanks to all the beautiful people at The Lamp for the wonderful, loving care she received every day. We could not have asked for a better place for mom. She was treated like family and cared for like a queen.

Funeral services will be private. Funeral arrangements are under the care of the Fortin Group Funeral Home, 70 Horton St. Lewiston, ME. Please visit www.TheFortinGroupLewiston.com to leave condolences.

In lieu of flowers please make donations in memory of Yvonne to the:

Alzheimer’s Association by visiting http://act.alz.org/goto/YvonneVachon